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Henry Farrell argues that social media's real danger isn't fake news but algorithmic distortion of how we perceive other people and public opinion. When journalists and political figures rely on Twitter's skewed representation of the public to inform their work, these distorted views get reinforced across institutions and industries that shape culture.
- The main danger of social media isn't fake news brainwashing people—it's algorithms distorting our perception of what others actually think, warping our mental map of society.
- Journalists, academics, and political staffers are especially exposed to Twitter's skewed picture of public opinion, then embed that distortion into their reporting and analysis, amplifying it society-wide.
- Entertainment and other industries use similar algorithmic sorting, creating the same kind of distorted signals about audience preferences—so the problem isn't unique to political discourse.
- This creates a feedback loop where the institutions meant to help us understand society are all working from the same algorithmically-mangled data, undermining the ability to solve collective problems.
+ algorithmic distortion
twitter
+ institutional feedback loops
journalism
public opinion
+ perception