The upshot of this scientific paper, published in Nature, is, as one of the authors, Walter Quattrochiocchi told me, that “different social media with different business models, on different topics, at different times (and so different social norms) produce similar interaction patterns. Such a configuration supports the hypothesis that the main driver of toxicity is human behavior more than social media platforms”
Discuss
nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07229-y
@anneapplebaum It used to be said of UK football hooliganism that football was the occasion of the violence, not the cause.
Similarly social media and the apparent lack of consequences brings out the worst in people who already had a worst to bring out.
Of course, Xitter seem to self select such people. Is a cause or an amplifier, I think the latter.
@eduqate @anneapplebaum Not like the old days, where at the first sign of antisocial behavior from a member of the lower classes, John Law would give him a firm but friendly clip 'round the lug 'ole, and he'd be on his way, a completely reformed character.
