#republic DIVIDED DEMOCRACY. |, IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA eye Soy Se i SIU ae Sy) PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Princeton and OxfordCopyright © 2017 by Princeton University Press Pablished by Princeton University Pkess, ‘William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 09540 40 the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR. ress princetoneda All Right Reserved Jacket design by Amada Weiss “brary of Congress Cataloging in-Publicetion Data Other titles: Hashteg repablic Princeton Univesity Press, 2017 | Includes index CON 2016038668 | al aspects, [Internet — pects. | Polarizacion Political participation —Techaological innovations | Democracy| Poltieal culture | BISAC; POLITICAT SCTE Politieal ldeologies/ Democracy| POLITICAL SCIENCI ‘urity General, | POLITICAL. Censorship. POLITICAL SCIENCE’ Publte Polley / General (Classifcaton: LOC HIMBS1 $869 2017 | DDC 303.48/33--de23 ‘UCretord available at https://leen loc gov/2016038668 Britsh Library Cataloging ‘This book has bees composed in Adobe Text Pro and Gotham Printed on ucid-fece paper. oo Printed! the United States of Ametica 0987654321 Ithink, when the people have chosen a repres his duty to meet others from the different parts and consult, and agree with them on such acts as are for the general benefit of the whole community ® ROGER SHERMAN, 1789 It is hardly possible to overrate the value, in the present Jow state of human improvement, of placing human beings contact with persons lar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they ~ Such communication has always been, and in the present age, one of the primary sources of progress. JOHN STUART MILL, 1848 Now even as we speak, divide us—the spin masters, th: egative ad peddlers who Ame Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America. ® BARACK OBAMA, 2004 If you could look through thousands of stories every day and choose the 10 that were most important to you, wiich would they be? ‘The answer should be your News Feed, Itis subjective, personal, and unique—and defines the spirit of what we hope to achieve, *® FACEBOOK, 2016ese vee si 16 oat 251 “1 86 65 ie vou ser squawepanouyoy orienaaae WOO WSRIOWSL stvsodoue HO3ads 40 WOUaR WSNd ¥ LNOILW INDORE S.VHM SNAZILID NOLLWAMOSNI ONIGVS4dS GNY aN TwID0S s3qVv2SvV3832A9 NoLwziewiod W301 NV ONY ADOTYNY NY aw AtIva 3HL e00j04d SLNALNOD a onPREFACE Ina well-functioning democracy, people do not live in echo charm- bers or information cocoons. They see and hear a wide range of topics and ideas, They do so even if they did not, and would not, choose to see and hear those topics and those ideas in advance. ‘These claims raise serious questions about online behavior and uses of social media, and the astonishing growth in the power to choose—to screen inrand screen out Louis Brandeis, one of America's greatest Supreme Court jus- tices, insisted that the biggest threat to freedom is “en inert people.” ‘To avoid inertness, 2 democratic public must certainly be free from censorship. But the system of free expression must do far more than avoid censorship; it mmust ensure that people are exposed to competing perspectives. The idea of free speech has an affirmative side. It imposes constraints on what government may do, b «quires a certain kind of culture as well—one of curiosity, openness, and humilicy. “Members of a democratic public will not do well if they are un- able to appreciate the views of their fellow citizens, if they believe “fake news,’ or if they see one another as enemies or adversat- ies in some kind of war. Learned Hand, a lower court judge from ‘many decades ago, put his finger on the point when he suid that the “spirit of liberty” is “thet 5 “The English language has two enduring accounts of democrat dystopia. George Orwell's Nineteen Kighty-Four, present, -denying Big Brother, democracy’s defeat. Orwell's novel depicts a triumph of authoritar- ianism, symbolized by the boot in the face, and refiected in Adolf Germany, Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, and Mao Tse-tung’s a. His is a tale of the triumph of fascism or communism, Many authoritatians are censors, and they silence those who disagree with them. To them, the Internet can be « great threat, and they BKbes uracp axourar o3 auOp aq ¥ —.arqesuadsipuy, pawoap TIX 2244 Zuyaaryse on sappersqo Sxes0d ‘alamo asojdxa o1 peasuy sj a12y foo Ayy “Joog sre 200 Sf eK, 3y moge waEEM aq Ayjsea pynoo yoog & pur “apso wy yonar Kaa sy aopreaqafan t ‘Sirah atios ur ‘ssaaoxd jo anos Azeamtad e se sognuapl posi jae seu Buperqafoo aq aupipur am “uosvar wy 10 smau reasS sy. 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But with an architecture of control, birds of a feather can easily flock together. In the 1990s, the idea ofa Daily Me seemed more than a litte ab- surd, But it's looking astoundingly good. If anything, Negroponte ‘understated what was coming, what has now arrived, and what is ‘on the horizon, Is that a promise or a threat? I think it’s both—and that the threatening part is what needs to be emphasized, not least because so many people see it as pure promise. True, there's no Daily Me, at least not quite yet. But we're get- ting there. Most Americans now receive mach of their news from social media, and all over the world, Facebook has become central to people's experience of the world, Irused to be said that the “Rev- ion Will Not Be Televised”; maybe or maybe nat, but you can be pretty sure that the revolution will be tweeted (¢Revolution). In 2016, for example, the military attempted a coup in Turkey. Ir succeeded in seizing the nation’s major television network. Buc it failed to take over social media, which the government and its supporters successfully used to call the public to the streets and, in short order, to stabilize the situation, Coup attempts often stand or fall on public perceptions of whether they are succeeding, and social media played a major role in combating the perception that the government was falling. When people use Facebook to see exactly what they want to see, their understanding of the world can be greatly affected. Your Facebook friends might provide a big chunk of the news on which you focus, and if they have a distinctive point of view, that’s the point of view that you'll see most. I worked in the Obama admin- istration, and so did a number of my Facebook friends, and what | see on my Facebook page often fits the interests and views of the kind of people who worked ia the Obama administration, Is that an unalloyed good? Probably not. And I have conservative friends whose Facebook pages look radically different from mine, and in ways that ft with their political convictions. We are living in THE DAILY ME. different political universes—something like science fiction’s per- allel worlds. A lot of the supposed news is fake, Your Twitter feed might well reflect your preferred topics and convictions, and it might provide much of what you see about politics—taxes, immigration, civil rights, and war and peace. What ‘comes in your feed is your choice, not anyone else's. You might well choose to include topics that interest you, and points of view thet ‘you find congenial. In fact that seems quite natural. Why would you ‘want topics that bore you and perspectives that you despise? ALGORITHMS AND HASHTAGS Asit turns out, you do not need to create a Daily Me. Others are creatingit for you right now (and you may have no idea that they're doing it). Facebook itself does some curating, and so does Google. We live in the age of the algorithm, and the algorithm knows a lot? With the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithms are bound to im- prove immeasurably. They will learn a great deal about you, and they will know what you want or willlike, before you do, and better than you do. ‘They will even know your emotions, again before and better than you do, and they will be able to mimic emotions on their own, Even now, an algorithm that learns alittle bit about you can dis coverand tell you what “people like you” tend to like. It can create something close to a Daily Me, just for you, in a matter of seconds. In fact that's happening every day. Ifthe algorithm knows that you like certain kinds of music, it might know, with a high probability, ‘what kinds of movies and books you like, and what political candi- dates will appeel to you. And ifit knows what websites you visit, i might well know what products you're likely to buy, and what you think about climate change and immigration. ‘Assmall example: Facebook probably knows your political con- victions, and it can inform others, including candidates for public office, of what it knows. 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uYeIGo LeauaveCHAPTER if they do so, they will put their clectoral future on the line. Social ‘media certainly did not cause the problem, but in #Republic, things sare worse than they would otherviise be, Thave worked in various capacities with the federal government and met on many occasions with members of Congress, With te- spect to important issues, Republicans have said to me, “Of course we would like to vote with the Democrats on that one, but if we did, we would lose our jobs.” There is no question that behind closed doors, Democrats would on oceasion say the same thing about working with Republicans. Both sides are worried about the effects of echo chambers—about an outburst of noisy negativity from segments of constituents, potentially proclucing serious elec- toral retribution, Social media increase the volume of thar noise, and to that extent, they heighten polarization, Over the last generation, the United States has seer in “partyism”—a kind of visceral, automatic dislike of people of the opposing political party. Partyism certainly isn't as horrible as rac- isms no one is enslaved or turned into a lower caste. But accord- ing to some measures, partyism now exceeds racism. In 1960, just S percent of Republicans and 4 percent of Democrats said that they would feel “displeased” if their child married outside their poli cal party.‘ By 2010, those numbers had reached 49 and 33 percent, respectively—far higher than the percentage of people who would be “displeased” iftheir child married someone with a different skin color.*In hiring decisions, political party matters: many Democrats do not want to hire Republicans, and vice versa, to such an extent that they would favor an inferior candidate of their preferred poiit- ical party.” Here as elsewhere, we should be cautious before claim- ing causation; ie would be reckless to say that social media and the Internet more generally are responsible for the remarkable increase in partyism., But there is lide doubt that a fragmented media mar- Kets a significant contributing factor. By itself, partyism is not the most serious threat to democratic self-government. But if it decreases government's ability to solve serious problems, then it has concrete and potentially catastrophic THE DAILY ME consequences for people's lives. I have offered the examples of gun control and climate change; consider also iramigration reform and even infrastructure—issues on which the United States has been tunable to make progress in recent years, in part because of the role of echo chambers. To be sure, the system of checks and bal ances is designed to promote deliberation and circumspection in government, and prevent insufficiently considered movement. But tho chambers can lead people to be- ieve in falsehoods, and it may be difficult or impossible to correct them, Falschoods take a toll, One illustration is the belief that Pres- ident Barack Obama was not born in the United States. As false- hoods go, this one is not the most damaging, but it both reflected and contributed to a politics of suspicion, distrust, and sometimes hatred. A more harmful example isthe set of falsehoods that helped produce the vote in favor of “Brexit” (the exodus of the United Kingdom from the European Union) in 2016. Even if Brexit was a good idea (and it wasn't), the vote in its favor was made possible, in part, by uses of social media that badly misled the people of the United Kingdom. In the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States, falsehoods spread like wildfire on Facebook. Fake news is everywhere, To date, social media have not helped produce a civil war, but that day will probably come. They have already helped prevent a coup (in Turkey in 2016). These are points about governance, but, as I have suggested, there is an issue about individual freedom as well. When people have multiple options and the liberty to select emong them, they have freedom of choice, and thet is exceedingly important. As Mil- ton Friedman emphasized, people should be “free to choose” But freedom requires far more than that. It requires certain background conditions, enabling people to expand their own ‘and to learn what is 1 merely satisfaction of whatever pref erences and vahtes peopie happen to have but also circumstances that are conducive to the free formation of preferences and valuesaie ‘spay mip opordde ox uayss 269p uN 1 saysea pnt gf 3 ‘stoxmnjos yw9>0p Jo UID ‘94a JO sAOU OURED ‘2m asnaq 1041 eae 08 200 op Aou, SI28uUp ag 02 anULOD pore “faojfe 9q iouur> 2eMp sroFug “at nog? auop 9q pInoys Harqadue soqoqst Jo vonsonb atp woxy wojgoud v of 2042 soMIOAs Jo von, -sonb amp atezedos on weap aweyiodu a1ow are stump say ‘Surpuess -topim Superexqo Jo sesodind soq “asimoo anp uy 21do2 yep dn aye #4 | wonemscr js oxtssooxs pue aoneuomexy moqe auop 34 Dinogs 30 ueo Hurykue sompoqss Moms 94 10U op a omS-2q ay, -uorssnosip afqnd axponnsuo> arom oxezauad aysiu yeea seapy auaBroap Kquessazau ayy wow, sanppsoramp ,2re[nsay 02, P08 3901 -ra1uy aqp pasa “129g 3eIp onus TBap9 ara44 “799 “TT FoquINdDg uo sopene amp aqnowp pu “mau sem asdijeaode atp poaayog rey penn 284) Fumpuy ayp a1OY LopISHOD 4, SBAUNUATHOD pseg -asoxanuy £q parurjddns og eas uv asozovutyo stuzad ut oy azour 9q dew pyaom jem arp seaxoryas “aisiaaqp (plas [Bap 07 sn 20103 tayo suoHIeIOIET PHOM- fea, “SaUEtTOGxD [20s 40] 10H -oumey woURTGOD # om HuTGIAWIOS SapLAoud syip‘SuazNID asIaAIp 103 “botreape UF wasoq axey rou proms Says iwi sfeLioNeU PUP Satara ssoroe autoa kpuanbay jas ajdoad puv foyear9 02 sopreyy yonur are sroquieyo oyso ‘amnautp 2200s 5: woneiRsUTyes “wors}AapPIs0ANI9H poe sradedsaou Strep se yons ‘sopreipauisosuy wsazavuy-[eioue8 pue ‘sysed pav isons se yons ‘sumoy ognd asngor upp waasks 8 UL ‘sroqummyp oypo untp zo110q 10] & az8 “tou 0 atrUO ‘Sands yqnd pareys tigesoourop Atpyeay e zog “(aaiamb pu “wayasuoa ax0U ‘soyes 10] 8 Suroq oste aprqss) s0qU2D BeqI abadE e O3 azEdsaNEOD 10 uren99 9s099 # sn Jo Aue 30} 9q WED SuORIDTUNUEIOD Jo Worsss ‘ss0qaq | 829 S41 ay “seoryd JONI AuEUL UF sxyau9q asomp J0409 -sip 03 Ya0s 2UBran am ‘TEALApIS Ho spUy sqodes emp SELIG at BurSpopomype pay “uppoy pue ‘oqnynox ‘Saar, “yooqazes op 8 pure ‘somoanyaze aaey sausqay ‘A[moureu wer zaqaes Ayprorq: uuasea 2q pmoys ,2m0rRYDI6, JO vapy ay, ‘syTEMAPIS UO 01 age are aldoad y>rqas uy uoeRaIs| mmuNMLOD paseq-aakfq “Yoopng iq ‘Stet oqydesBourap uy 10U ‘snoauasour BW Auiva aHs ae moge pouttasuos aq pynoys aus yas ‘umdaxyore A219 30 wopeUy ~ws9 ue yBronp ‘oys sdjay sqooel ‘Ssauprata ArvempzoEsNKD YIN ing ‘suomesyunmuo9 10u “emAseIIYPIE Moge 1 300g ssqoseL 8038 Sour ayy oqqnd yo pppost ¢4a)9 © yoryaa tao afueqp [ous atp ase sy9eH0D aA ‘radde Sem arp se wopuer pa njesodandun ‘Syao7t " otpoiion aoead uy yomp 01 ssoditenas Sersoys suotadmbo ing aaey SaN|9 werd Jo sioaNs way Kuo jemUOU puE aqqissod axe *** ay1] ueqm sjasuarmy ur eanzou pur aqqissod ‘axe yoryat—z0}09 uy saouasamp uexp zadaop sey of uayo 3eKp seanarayyp—sioqyiau 3uoure ssouaxoyp 3eor8 305 ta00 oT ‘ouesojo2 ayy, **'sapsoap 405 ‘s3wad Kare 303 aanpuo “op pus ‘avo sdiysuoniejss Yong “wrorp yA surxoy oyiqnd serprarey to ‘sassed aumn st ‘uaaa pu jasauo wos wo1ayIp As04 are og aqdoad yarn staa1 yemapis wayjanxa ao aq 01 o1qissod staf or pas annsqnd pus wai Kaus ‘sono rea1l saqusosap sqozef sy “sounape Ut ‘uasoyp aavy Siqussodiou pinoo Kaqp erp pue ‘pout Sewr fyareq aan Pynoo days zeep saap2ezd pure a|doad jo ofues v sovemoaus sx01ist4 ¥yoras ur sooeds oyqnd om—sanp jo ussaasp s90ys 243 01 angus arexoqeyp ue siayo sqoorf ‘Burp saipo Auem Suowy -sqosef ouef Aq Sent uvouauay wwaKg fo afi pun yroacr ayy, -proye e3 txO98 StU 3817 aut S009 s1yp Joy WonezIdsM) jexmuA9 v asoPIsIP mou aU 30 347 ONY Hivaa “usa uamo soy zo wostad e ur Hoga axe Aauy, “ys ato stomp ‘soda papurar-ayy jo sa 0s aze aydoad 7 ang_ “req WEI J0MAq Aiqe|NoqEDU! st soa104D ssOpE “ta Jo poss ¥ ,3249205—d04y wey & uO FuIduNEs 009 & autSeaT ‘eanany ayp Jo OIA & ues NO JL, sonny Cf NaoprUN 8420 a8s009 Aq posmdeo ‘2oxy ay uo i009 axa—usyuEUELOK ITE PuE diqsz0su09 st saaueistmos asorp yeaa we st uropaayy saapsurayy Sur LessaCHAPTER 1 WHAT FACEBOOK WANTS On June 29, 2016, Facebook made a significant announcement, under a post called “Building a Better News Feed for You.” It didn’t exactly say that it had found a way to produce a Daily Me, but it catne fairly close, and it made clear its aspirations, The post emphasizes that “the goal of News Feed is to show People the stories that are most relevant to them.” Wich that point in mind, why does Facebook rank stories in its News Feed? “So that people can see what they eare about first, and don't miss import- ant stuff from their friends” Infact, the News Feed is animated by “core values,” starting with “getting people the stories that mat- {er to them most.” Ficebook therefore asks this question: “If you could look through thousands of stories every day and choose the 10 that were most important to you, which would they be? The ‘answer should be your News Feed. Itis subjective, personal, and unique—and defines the spirit of what we hope to achieve.” (It's ‘worth pausing over that.) I should note that I like Facebook and use it regularly—but it can improve. Consistent with that spirit, Facebook says, “To help make sure you don’t miss the friends and family posts you are likely to care about, we put those posts toward the top of your News Feed. We earn from you and adapt over time. For example, if you tend to like photos from your sister, we'll start putting her posts closer {© the top of your feed so you won't miss what she posted while You were away.” In this way and others, personalization matters: ‘Something that one person finds informative or interesting may be different from what another person finds informative of inter- esting,” The News Feed is designed so that different people get what they want Facebook says that it does not play favorites. ts business is “con- necting people and ideas—and matching people with the stories they find most meaningful” (The word “meaningful” is interesting here. ‘What does it mean?) It follows that “as News Feed evolves, we'll con. ‘nue building easy-to-use and powerful tools to give you the most aa THE DAILY NE personalized experience.” That “we" is unduly confident thet “the ‘most personalized expesience” is whatis most desirable. From the post, itis nat exactly clear what Facebook did to im- prove the situation, but the company appears to have altered its al gorithm to ensure that atthe top of your News Feed, you will see items from your friends, thus increasing the likelihood that what you will see will be what most interests you. The post concludes: “We view our work as only 1 percent finished—and are dedicated toimproving along the way.” That's good news. We do not know for sure, but Facebook probably made this change for three reasons. Fit litical bias in the form of suppression of conservative news sources. An algorithm that emphasizes family and friends, and seemingly puts users in full control, can claim political neunality. Second, Facebook has an obligation to its shareholders, and its News Feed really can be turned into « Daily Me, it ight well get more licks, which means ‘more revenue. Third, many users had been merely posting news arti- cles of various sors, which meant & reduction in original posts. Peo- ple might find the reposted articles less interesting, and ifs, there are fevwer clicks, making for ¢lese attractive product. (I speculate chat the third reason might be the most important.) Itis entirely reasonable for Facebook to take these points into account, But we should not aspire to a situation in which every- one’s News Feed is perfectly personalized, so that supporters of different politicians—Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Donald ‘Trump, Someone else-see fundamentally different stores, focus- ing on different topics or covering the same topics in radically df- ferent ways, Facebook seems to think that it would be liberating ifevery person's Nevis Feed could be personalized so that people see only and exactly what they want, Don't believe it In the 2016 presidential campaign, the News Feed spread a lot of falsehoods. nt to underscore the importance of core values, Due it might want to rethink its own, True, iis a business, not public utility. True, jons to its shareholders. 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