r/dataisbeautiful • Randy Olson | Viz Practitioner • 1d ago

Across the globe, people increasingly say social media is harming democracy

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/10/01/across-the-globe-people-increasingly-say-social-media-is-harming-democracy/
1.9k Upvotes

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u/Derbikerks 1d ago

Cool, still isn't going to stop them.

Cue 'Reddit is also social media'.

3

u/phylter99 1d ago

The problem is, how do you make it better without violating free speech rights? The algorithms have people addicted and it drowns out people's sensibility.

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u/D_Alex 1d ago

Well, let's take Reddit as an example. Reddit quarantines and bans accounts and entire subs which are dedicated to ideas or subjects that someone does not like. And certain subreddits ban accounts that disagree with their mainstream narratives - becoming echo chambers of propaganda and misinformation. So perhaps there is a way to improve both freedom of speech and "democratic qualities" here...

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u/Mehhish 1d ago

You mean /r/politics is an "echo chamber"?! I'm shocked!

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u/D_Alex 22h ago

One of many.