Cole Allen's social media posts started to change a few years back, becoming more angry and critical of the Trump administration, according to numerous reports.
Vlad Khaykin, the executive vice president for social impact and partnerships for North America at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told KNX News’ Emily Valdez that social media is the main way people nowadays are becoming radicalized.
“The old adage, if it bleeds it leads, that is still very much true for social media and online technologies,” he said. “But I think in a way like on steroids because they promote sensational stories, stories that cause outrage. There's a lot of rage-inducing content that gets promoted simply because it fuels engagement, right? And engagement means that people stay on these sites longer, commenting, rage clicking, rage commenting.”
Khaykin said a lot of the rage-bait content and comments come from AI bots.
“We need to be much more savvy consumers of information, both online and offline,” he said. “It really shouldn't be so easy to manipulate Americans. So I think media literacy and, increasingly, AI literacy are becoming indispensable for our democracy.”
He added that Congress now seems willing to enact laws regulating social media.
Follow KNX News 1070 AM
