By Cooper Dowd, Staff Writer
Although people face a tumultuous election year where polarization on the social media app Facebook is at an all-time high, according to Politico, the increased engagement of right-wing posts is due to emotional attraction and not an algorithm.
Recently, Politico interviewed an anonymous Facebook executive and discussed the current political climate and the right’s presence on social media.
The executive claims that the engagement inequality is not new, political parties have dealt with this issue since the 1930s.
“This wasn’t invented 15 years ago when Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook,” the executive said. “That was there in the [19] 30s. That’s not invented by social media — you just see those reflexes mirrored in social media, they’re not created by social media.”
The executive added: “It’s why tabloids do better than the [Financial Times], and it’s also a human thing. People respond to engaging emotions much more than they do to, you know, dry coverage…”
Joe Biden called out the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that the social media app’s algorithm is to blame.
“I’ve never been a fan of Facebook,” Biden told The New York Times. “I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan. I think he’s a real problem… He knows better.”
Joe Biden’s campaign manager added to Biden’s statements, saying that the social media app allows for disinformation to “run rampant.”
“Facebook’s platform is a mirror, all right — a fun house mirror,” campaign spokesperson Bill Russo said. “One that has twisted and distorted our world and our politics into something barely recognizable, where conspiracy theories and disinformation run rampant. This is not a feature of our society that we must simply accept. It is a choice to create an algorithm that feeds the distrust and polarization that are tearing us apart.”
John Bickley, the editor and chief of the conservative news outlet The Daily Wire, said that mainstream media looks to “censor content.”
“What’s really going on here is obvious to anyone paying attention: The mainstream media wants to censor content from other sources in an attempt to re-establish the control of the news narrative they lost when the internet broke up their monopoly,” Bickley said.
Bickley said the trends of right-wing post engagement being statistically higher than their counterparts are due to prominent narratives.
“It also makes sense to me that social media users would engage more with content that has a clearer perspective or stronger take on stories — and particularly those that push back on predominant narratives with glaring flaws.”
The same distinction could be made for movies. Movieguide® presents similar findings in the annual report, which sees compelling stories with family-friendly content perform much better at the box office than other movies.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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