Social media is making political polarization worse: study

A new report out yesterday (September 13th) says that social media is making political polarization worse and charges that the platforms have failed to, quote, “self-regulate sufficiently,” calling for government action.

The report from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights says that polarization is having real-world consequences, quote, “which we are seeing basically eroding aspects of democracy and civil relationships among people and trust in institutions,” according to Center deputy director Paul Barrett, one of the report’s authors.

It calls for the government to enact stronger transparency requirements for tech platforms about their inner workings and empower the Federal Trade Commission to draft and enforce new standards for industry conduct.

The report also recommends that social media companies adjust their algorithms to try to depolarize their platforms more systemically and be more open about their decision-making.

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