"The limited span of attention of today's dopamine-fed and adrenaline-rushed social media junkies, be they on TikTok, X, YouTube Shorts or Instagram posts, often bypasses the cortex of cerebral consciousness and directly targets the pre-cognitive instinctual and visceral seat of the collective unconscious. Thus, a serious debate is currently raging over whether anti-social elements or violent extremists exploit social media platforms for their insidious purposes, or whether most social media outlets and their apps intentionally design provocative hashtags to spur prolonged, polarising debates and profit from them."
"In fact, the business models of many social media platforms are based on engagement algorithms, hashtags and rabbit holes that spur further online debate and thereby increase advertising revenue. In the words of Carlos Diaz Ruiz, "Incendiary, shocking content - whether it is true or not - is an easy way to get our attention, which means advertisers can end up funding fake news and hate speech.""
The limited span of attention of modern social media users often bypasses higher cognition and directly triggers instinctual, visceral responses. Anonymous, minimally censored platforms enable rapid livestreaming of visceral reactions that are difficult to regulate. Engagement-focused business models and algorithms prioritize incendiary content because such material increases time-on-platform and advertising revenue. Incendiary, shocking content, whether true or not, attracts attention and can cause advertisers to fund fake news and hate speech. Highly interactive platforms therefore pose real-time hazards to public safety and security, especially on sensitive issues. Platform mechanics are not neutral; optimization for engagement makes hate and misinformation profitable.
Read at Eurasia Review
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