Video

Social Media and Political Polarization in America

Nov 2022 🇺🇸 60 Minutes / CBS News

This 60 Minutes segment examines the role social-media platforms and their recommendation algorithms play in political polarization in the United States, with Tristan Harris among the experts interviewed about how engagement-optimized feeds are associated with amplifying divisive and emotionally charged content. Harris discusses design incentives that reward outrage and tribal signaling with greater distribution, situating polarization within his broader argument that platforms' business model — rather than any single piece of content or individual bad actor — is the primary driver of these associated harms. The segment is framed as broadcast journalism rather than original research. TechKids Foundation includes it as a mainstream-broadcast application of Harris's design-incentive argument to democratic and civic harms, broadening this library's policy-relevant coverage of his work beyond individual mental-health framing.

CITATION

"Social Media and Political Polarization in America." 60 Minutes, CBS News, November 5, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLfr7sU5W2E

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