As Americans increasingly say the biggest threat in the country is coming from each other, is social media only inflaming that conflict?
A New York Times/Siena poll of 1,313 registered voters released on Oct. 2 found polarization to be the second-biggest problem facing the country after the economy. Experts and some social media users are pointing out that the division is often amplified on apps like TikTok, Facebook, X and Instagram.
“Nothing has made as much sense to me as rage baiting,” one creator noted in a TikTok video. “My Tik Toks with the most views are all about like controversial topics or things that got people talking.”
“This app is so toxic, people love the rage bait, they love to argue,” another TikTok user said in a video. “It’s just how this app works. It’s what this app thrives on.”
What appears on a user’s feed is determined by unique algorithms that serve you content based on what you have liked, commented or shared in the past.
“The downside, at the end of the day, everything just goes to the most terrible types of things that human nature will be attracted to,” Influicity CEO and marketing expert Jon Davids told NBC News national senior correspondent Kate Snow on TODAY on Oct. 2.
“Explosions, we’re going to look at train crashes, we’re going to look at whatever grabs our attention and gets that dopamine hit instantly,” he continued.
In a 2018 internal presentation, Facebook, now known as Meta, said its algorithms “exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
“If left unchecked,” Facebook would serve users “more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention and increase time on the platform.”
Entrepreneur, podcast host and professor Scott Galloway has spoken out against what he sees as social media apps pushing rage bait.
“What the algorithms figured out is there’s something better than sex — and that’s rage,” Galloway told Snow.
A study released in March found that the algorithm on X appeared to boost posts that were emotional, partisan and hostile content from people a user may disagree with.
“Enragement equals engagement, equals more ads, equals more shareholder value,” Galloway said.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted on an earnings call in July that Meta’s ability to hold users’ attention has led to growth.
“AI is significantly improving our ability to show people content that they’re going to find interesting and useful,” he said on the call. “It has led to a 5% increase in time spent on Facebook and 6% on Instagram just this quarter.”
Galloway believes the content isn’t always interesting and useful.
“I think it’s errors of omission, not commission,” he said. “They have ignored what is obvious here, and that is the more time you spend online, the more likely you are to engage in misogynistic, nationalistic or kind of violent content. They know this. They’ve known it for a long time. Basically, the whistleblowers at Meta all said the same thing that they purposely ignored the data.”
Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen testified at a hearing in Congress in November 2021 that Facebook prioritized profits over moderating any problematic content.
“The result is a system that amplifies division, extremism and polarization,” Haugen said in her testimony.
Meta has long denied that assertion. The company often highlights 2023 studies showing polarization is not caused by their apps.
“I believe that the division we see today is primarily the result of a political and media environment that drives Americans apart,” Zuckerberg said in 2021 while speaking before a House committee on misinformation.
One thing that is clear is that Americans are deeply divided. A 2024 survey of 4,757 voters by PRRI conducted after the presidential election found that 81% of Democrats viewed Republicans as a serious threat to the country, while 69% of Republicans said the same thing about Democrats.
“If America were a horror movie, the call is coming from inside of the house,” Galloway said. “People are convinced that Russians pouring over the border in Ukraine or income inequality or climate change isn’t a threat. It’s their neighbor that doesn’t share their political views.”
Meta and TikTok did not respond to comment on the record. A spokesman for X told NBC News the company is shifting its algorithm to be controlled by artificial intelligence by November. Elon Musk, the owner of X, said users will be able to ask their chatbot, Grok, to tweak the algorithm if they don’t like what is appearing in their timeline.
“Well, that definitely puts it in the hands of the users, but once you’re already kind of addicted to the dopamine and this nonstop onslaught of this divisive content, are you going to be able to say, ‘You know what, I think I’d like to have a little less of that?'” Savannah Guthrie asked on TODAY on Oct. 2.
“I don’t know how to change my ringer on my phone, more or less go into the settings and change algorithms,” Carson Daly said.
Savannah reinforced where the social media apps get their power from.
“Look, social media, it’s free to all of us, but we are the product,” she said. “Our attention is the product, that’s what they’re selling. And they need engagement.”
“Pandora’s box has been opened,” Willie Geist said. “The question is what you do about it now?”