In a year of populist uprisings and electoral upsets, Facebook has become a cesspit of fascist, xenophobic and racist sentiments. Conspiracy theories and fake news stories circulate at an unprecedented volume and speed â poisoning not just the public discourse, but national politics.Â
Bolstered by lies, propaganda and hate-fueled viral content, far-right and anti-establishment parties are doing disproportionately well on Facebook relative to their overall popularity in polls.Â
Yes, it appears thereâs an appetite for this kind of content. But Facebook is not merely a bystander â its algorithms are partly to blame. The social media giant controls what information its 1.8 billion users receive and, consequently, it has an outsized influence on the opinions they form and the way they think.Â
Facebook wields an amount of power that is unprecedented in human history. Like it or not, it is influencing elections around the world. The company cannot continue to claim that it is simply a platform empowering its users to voice their opinions. It needs to acknowledge and remedy its role in the rise of extremism. Our free, open and democratic world is a stake.
Jakub Goda is a digital artist and blogger. He graduated from the University of York with a masters degree in philosophy, politics and economics.