/pol/arization: Online Forums as Breeding Grounds for Extremism

Abstract

Freedom of speech and expression has been a fundamental right ever since the birth of the constitution, encouraging the spread of diverse ideas. However, the exploitation of this right has led to the rise of online forums paving the way for a new era of political dialogue. While ideas and opinions are allowed to freely come into conflict with each other in the digital realm, online algorithms work to amplify like-minded opinions and stifle opposing thought. In this paper, I will examine the factors that make social media uniquely prone to ideological polarization as opposed to traditional broadcast television and new outlets. The combined influences of individual users, curation algorithms, and mass media gatekeepers create a dangerous mix of forces that drive opinions to the extremes. I will then explore how these factors manifest in echo chambers on the dark side of the internet. We will see how conspiracy theories spillover to mainstream media, and make the leap from the virtual realm to the physical realm. Altogether, I argue that the current trend in online dialogue forces social media giants into a double-bind where they either allow misinformation to run rampant on their platforms, or they push them into the deep abyss of the web where fringe groups find breeding grounds and take on more radical forms.