How Your Social Media Feed Enables Violence

There has been a rise in violent crimes like shootings and homicides in 2020 that has left police chiefs, crime analysts, and academics scratching their heads.

The current climate surrounding policing has not helped. Violent protests have erupted around the country. A counter protester shot and killed two protesters in Kenosha. Two officers were shot in Louisville. Take the increase in the violent crime rate (and increasing rates of domestic violence), add in social unrest and protests during a global pandemic and an upcoming presidential election plus all of the social media platforms on the internet available to millions of people at once and you are left with a melting pot of uncertainty and recipe for disaster. 

Although experts aren’t quite sure what has caused the increase in violent crime, the most common denominator circulating with this violence is social media.

Most social media outlets want to drive clicks, comments, likes, and shares in order to drive revenue. However most of these platforms’ focus on driving engagement outweighs its consideration of the potential harms of their revenue models.

Not only are these platforms correlated to a decline in physical health, mental health, and life satisfaction, social media outlets who perpetuate any and all interactions have turned into violent extremist creators and enablers. The news feeds of any social media sites are driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms, making it incredibly easy to spread extremist and violent views and increasingly difficult to stop fake accounts and the circulation of fake information.

Even Facebook’s own internal study found that 64% of the people who joined extremist groups on Facebook did so because the algorithms steered them there. The FBI has warned that conspiracy theories shared on social media are a domestic terrorism threat.

The nature of the AI used for the algorithm behind your social media feed favors extremists and violence - the more extreme a post, the more interaction it receives which equals more profit for the company. The AI allows for a constant suggestions of similar posts like cat videos, but these persistent suggestions also includes misinformation and conspiracy theories (ie Pizzagate and Qanon) leading users down a rabbit hole abyss of confirmation bias. 

Only recently has there been some definitive action taken to suspend or remove fake accounts and information by social media platforms. In the meantime, these platforms have allowed plenty of opportunities for fake and covert accounts to be created and grown with the sole purpose to spread misinformation in an effort to cause discord and chaos. 

 

You’ve probably wanted to delete your social media accounts in the past, but it is hard not to use platforms that were designed to be as addictive as cigarettes. 

This is a warning SpotCrime would like our users to heed: Be wary of your social media feeds.

Social media's AI was built to keep you scrolling. It was made to manipulate you into feeling an emotion in order to elicit a response. 

The AI in the justice system and behind predictive policing gets it wrong, what makes us think AI for social media feeds are any better?

There are some benefits to being connected online, but users need to be aware of the harm. Know that social media can be the root of violence. 

A good course of action is to delete visceral social media platforms. However, if you can’t bring yourself to delete it, then proactively limit your use. Do not get stuck in an infinite scroll. Do not let social media control your emotions. Research any claims made on your news feeds.

Do not let AI manipulate you. 

So, is your social media account doing you more harm than good? Check out the Social Media Confessions Bingo from The Social Dilemma to learn if you are using the technology or if it is using you. 

Stay aware, stay safe.