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this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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Technology
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Algorithmic content is arguably the worst thing to come out of the internet.
It has made it much easier for these companies to manipulate what people see and feed into their fears and delusions.
Algorithmic content is not bad per se. It's the algorithms that are specifically designed to create division and hate. The people who design these things know what they're doing and are doing it because the outcomes are that they want to achieve.
They aren't designed to do that.
They are designed to give people what they want. People want division and hate. It fuels their attention.
In the 1980s the people who had the longest listening times to Howard Stern were the people who claimed to hate him. The outraged fueled their attention such that they could not turn away because they wanted to see if he got more outrageous and offensive.
People are like kids in an candy store when it comes to negative content. They cannot get enough. They get addicted to the intense feelings the outrageous content provides.
Before algos things were random and they had to try really hard to go find that stuff. The algos spoonfed it to them and they lapped it up eagerly. Back when IG was just my friends, I saw one angry rant every few weeks, today it's 20 angry rants and 20 ads, and my friends content about their kid or cat being cute is buried by 50 other posts which I can't get rid of.
"Those companies running the orphan crushing machines are really evil."
"Nooo, you must understand those orphans want to be crushed! They're just fulfilling a market need!"
We have overt fascists literally controlling the internet and people are still spouting complaints about "algorithms". jfc.
Seriously who upvotes this nonsense? This is how we got here.
More than one thing can be bad about the internet at the same time.
Furthermore, the fascists are the one that put the algorithms in place and control them.
It's the same problem.
Actually no. Every single program is an "algorithm". Sorting by date is an "algorithm".
You're literally crying about something that's ubiquitous. And that's literally how we got here.
Do you really want more state control of "social media"? You want these wonderful fash controlling those dangerous algorithms? smh.
I don't want any social media homie
You're barking up the wrong tree
Take a chill pill