Social media has us in its grip and won’t let go. The Charlie Kirk killing is a case study

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer Charlie Kirk s mastery of social media was key to his rise as an influence in conservative politics So the extent to which his death and its aftermath have played out on those forums shouldn t come as a surprise In a microcosm of life in the modern day social media is where Americans have gone to process last week s killing in Utah and is the chief tool his supporters are using to police those they feel aren t offering proper respect Investigators are probing the time the man accused of killing Kirk Tyler Robinson spent in the dark corners of the internet anti-social media if you will leading up to when he allegedly pulled the trigger On the other side of the world as the Kirk story preoccupied Americans Nepal reeled from a spasm of violence that erupted when the ruling body tried to ban social media platforms All of this is forcing a closer look at the technologies that have changed our lives how they control what we see and understand through algorithms and the way all the time we spend on them affects our view of the world Cox emerges as powerful spokesman against social media Utah s governor Republican Spencer Cox believes cancer isn t a strong enough word to describe social media The greater part powerful companies in the history of the world have figured out how to hack our brains get us addicted to outrage and get us to hate each other Cox stated Sunday on NBC s Meet the Press Democratic Sen Brian Schatz of Hawaii urged Americans via social media to pull yourself together read a book get various exercise have a whiskey walk the dog or make various pasta or go fishing or just do anything other than let this algo pickle your brain and ruin your soul Chilling videos of Kirk s Sept assassination forthwith overwhelmed sites like X TikTok and YouTube and companies are still working to contain their spread Confrontational material and conspiracy theories are pushed into social media feeds because they do precisely what they re designed to do keep people on the platforms for longer periods of time I do think we re in a moment here stated Laura Edelson a Northeastern University professor and expert on social media algorithms Our country is being digitally mediated Where we interact with other people how we interact with broader society that is more and more happening over feed algorithms This is the greater part latest in a long line of methods that society has been changed by media innovation Related Articles Oklahoma court stops social studies standards with balloting misinformation from taking effect ICE sweeps currently part of Patriot focus on sanctuary cities like Boston Target strategies up next-day parcel delivery as discounter tries to narrow gap with rivals Margin Patrol agent who led immigration crackdown in Los Angeles arrives in Chicago Wall Street drifts around its record heights Divisive content and the proliferation of the video of Kirk s death may not have been the goal but are the direct end of decisions made to maximize profits and cut back on content moderation Edelson explained I don t think there are people twirling their mustaches saying how great it is that we ve divided society except the Russian troll farms and more and more the Chinese troll farms she explained X owner Elon Musk posted on his site this past week that while discourse can become negative it s still good there is a discussion going Conservative media star Ben Shapiro who considered Kirk a friend admired how Kirk was willing to go to different places and talk to people who disagreed with him a practice all too rare in the social media era How social media works is a accident area fully a tragedy area Shapiro announced in an interview with Bari Weiss on a Free Press podcast There s no question it s making the world a worse place and that s not a call for censorship How people act on social media is a bipartisan matter noted Shapiro The majority pervasive one is people who use the third-person plural they are doing something to us he announced That s been the event when multiple people discuss Kirk s death although the shooter s motives haven t become clear and there s no evidence his actions are anything other than his own Collecting inflammatory posts from both sides The liberal MeidasTouch media company has collected inflammatory social posts by conservatives particularly those who suggest they re at war Meanwhile several conservatives have combed social media for posts they consider negative toward Kirk in selected cases seeking to get people fired The Libs of TikTok site urged that a Washington state school district be defunded because it refused to lower flags to half staff GOP Rep Randy Fine of Florida solicited people to point out negative Kirk posts from anyone who works in administration at a place that receives residents funding or is licensed by authorities a coach or lawyer for instance These monsters want a fight he wrote on X Congratulations they got one A Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah wrote Monday that she was fired for a series of BlueSky posts that expressed little sympathy for Kirk But she wrote on Substack that not performing over-the-top grief for white men who espouse violence was not the same as endorsing violence against them A Post spokeswoman declined to comment So much of what people use to talk about politics algorithmically driven social media sites and cable television is designed to pull Americans apart explained James Talarico a Democratic state lawmaker in Texas who in recent days disclosed a bid for the U S Senate We ve got to find our way back to each other because that s the only way we can continue this American experiment he noted on MSNBC Among the majority of persistent examples of those divisions are the lies and misinformation about elections that have spread for years through online social channels They have undermined faith in one of the country s bedrock institutions and contributed to the rage that led supporters of President Donald Trump to violently storm the U S Capitol on Jan Whether meaningful change is attainable remains an open question Nepal s unrest illustrated the dangers of establishment involvement Social media sites were shut down and users protested suggesting it had been a way to stop criticism of regime Police opened fire at one demonstration killing people Persuading social media sites to change their algorithms is also an uphill battle They live off attention and people spending as much time as achievable on them Unless advertisers flee for fear of being associated with violent posts there s little incentive for them to change commented Jasmine Enberg a social media analyst at EMarketer Young people in particular are becoming aware of the dangers of spending too much time on social media she declared But turn their phones off The reality of the situation Enberg disclosed is that there s a limit to how much they can limit their behavior Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York and Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this assessment David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP Follow him at http x com dbauder and https bsky app profile dbauder bsky social