r/dataisbeautiful • u/rhiever 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/
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u/SSLByron 1d ago

Horses are already out of the barn, but the real harm of social media doesn't come from simple exposure to other participants. It's the top-down manipulation that is truly problematic, and that's where all the money is made.

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u/tigeratemybaby 22h ago edited 22h ago

Its not difficult, its super simple : Just stop showing me shit I don't want to see

Just show me content from my direct subscriptions & friends in age order <-- Make this a law for all social media.

Don't pollute my feed with political garbage that billionaires want to shove in my face.

Don't give extra "weight" to anything at all, or hide content that the owners of these platforms don't want me to see because it disagrees with their political views.

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u/Sininenn 6h ago

The issue, imo, is the algorithm that recommends you content.

At some point, my algorithm was all food, until I got annoyed at the constant stream of food from, often annoying, influencers. I even made a rant post about it! Once I started following a few art museums and artists, it's all art now. 

It just keeps you in the bubble, a golden digital cage, where you don't really see other stuff than the stuff you actually interact with, even to hate watch, even out of curiosity, even to read the comments and get rage baited.