Social media algorithms- the invisible forces that shape our online experiences. If you had opened Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram a decade ago, you would likely see posts from close friends and family in chronological order. Nowadays, we are presented with a stark contrast; users are inundated with a surge of almost addicting content curated by an algorithm, as evident by the fact that a staggering 91% of Instagram users engage with reels every week consistently. Although the original promise of social media was to connect people with the content they love, this is slowly disintegrating. As these platforms evolve, we are confronted with a glaring truth; these promises are blurred by algorithms that dictate not just what we see but also whom we see it from.
In social media, algorithms serve as intricate systems of complex formulas that social media platforms use to manage the vast amount of content posted every single second. Initially, these algorithms were simple. If you followed someone, their posts would show up on your feed. As networks grew, the barrage of posts became overwhelming. To enhance the average user’s experience, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter started to implement algorithms that deliberately selected content to keep users engaged for longer periods of time. However, the goal of keeping individuals engaged doesn’t necessarily serve society at large, and can even be harmful to significant values and boundaries, such as living in a healthy democracy.
At the heart of this issue is the exploitation of algorithms through misinformation. As algorithms prioritize content that attracts high engagement, not paying any heed to the reliability of the content, creators often take advantage of this system to spread controversial, extreme, and sensational content to gain popularity. This was evident in the false claims about the 2020 election that proliferated on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which members of the U.S. Congress claimed contributed to the promotion of disinformation and extremism. Not only is election misinformation a danger to democracy, but it also suppresses personal perspectives and biases. With platforms unwilling or unable to intervene, these perilous claims continue to propagate, fueling threats to election systems. A report by New York University’s Stern School of Business sheds light on the relationship between digital platforms and the extreme polarization that can lead to the erosion of democratic values and violence. The data suggests that while Facebook, being one of the largest social media platforms, has gone out of its way to deny its contribution to extreme divisiveness, evidence such as Facebook’s actions and leaked documents strongly indicates that an important relationship does exist.
Subsequently, not only do misinformation and polarization affect election systems, but they also have a major impact on individuality and growth. In prehistoric societies, humans typically acquired knowledge from individuals within their group or from those with a higher level of education, as this information had a higher likelihood of being trustworthy and resulting in group success. However, with the common habit of forging profiles on social media, exacerbated by algorithms, these biases rapidly resulted in diminished impact. In a review published by the journal Trends in Cognitive Science, a group of social scientists describe how the functions of social media algorithms are misaligned with human social instincts meant to foster cooperation, which, as a consequence, leads to large-scale polarization and misinformation. According to multiple user surveys conducted on Twitter and Facebook, it appears that a significant portion of users express exhaustion with the political content they encounter. This is partly due to the reputational challenges faced by these platforms in handling formal events and combating the dissemination of misinformation, linking back to how humans tend to have a preference for acquiring knowledge from individuals they perceive as reliable or trustworthy. With misinformation being prioritized by algorithms, we as a society cannot learn from each other properly and gain legitimate knowledge.
Likewise, the curation of algorithms makes it frustrating for new creators to push their content and gain followers due to the system’s focus on the content’s engagement, attention, and popularity. It is estimated that on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, only about 10% of an account’s followers see their posts unless those posts receive significant engagement or the account pays for broader visibility, a shocking statistic. This model can be especially infuriating for small businesses and independent creators who rely on these platforms to reach customers and fanbases, often being forced to spend more money on advertising to ensure visibility, even for those who have already opted to follow their pages. Critics argue that this model is fundamentally flawed, believing that if someone chooses to follow a creator or business, they have a clear interest in engaging with that content. By limiting visibility, platforms are not only undermining user agency but also removing the right in a democracy to choose what we want to see. By prioritizing content deemed most likely to engage users, social media platforms consciously homogenize the online experience for daily users, restricting diversity and diluting the varied range that makes social media unique in the first place.
To conclude, while algorithms currently facilitate the spread of misinformation, lead to the exploitation of the system through echo chambers, and push content creators to pay unnecessary effort to gain popularity, potential solutions such as working with government initiatives and fact checkers could alleviate the issue. Algorithms, in theory, help manage the deluge of content and maintain user engagement by presenting posts that are likely to interest individual users based on past behavior. However, this approach is not without its drawbacks. As the digital world continues to evolve, it’s time for social media platforms to rethink their reliance on algorithms or moderate them in a way that respects user preferences directly and promotes meaningful, diverse content. After all, social media should be about enhancing connections, not controlling them.
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