Town Hall | Will Technology Save or Subvert Civility and Society?

Current State of Public Sentiment and Attention

• In a live poll, zero audience members raised their hands believing technology and social media have a positive impact on American politics.
• A majority of the audience demonstrated an inability to refrain from checking phones for an hour, highlighting a collective loss of attention span.
• Audience members expressed deep anxiety regarding privacy, specifically citing a lack of control over data collection and fears of exposure.
• Tristan Harris notes that technology companies have failed to self-govern, while government regulation is currently ineffective due to the transnational nature of tech and lack of public trust.

The Mechanics of Prediction and Control

• Harris argues that tech companies do not need to listen to microphones to predict conversations; they utilize "voodoo doll" avatars built from clickstreams and engagement data to simulate user behavior.
• Approximately 70% of YouTube traffic is driven by algorithms rather than user choice, with an average user spending 60 minutes daily on the platform.
• Facebook's algorithmic shift toward "engagement" in 2017 inadvertently promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to new mothers, demonstrating how mission-driven goals can backfire without human nature considerations.
• On Twitter, using words of moral outrage increases retweet rates by 17%, systematically incentivizing polarization and "outrage magnification."

Corporate Incentives and Business Models

• Tech companies face a "double bind" where their stock prices are tied to user growth and data mining, creating zero incentive to remove fake accounts or bots.
• In 2019, 17% of Twitter's users were identified as bots or fake accounts, yet removing them resulted in punishment from Wall Street rather than reward.
• Gabe Brown points out that when companies like Facebook change mission statements (e.g., from "open and connected" to "closer together"), their AI optimization often leads to unintended consequences like grouping users into radical echo chambers.

Proposed Solutions and Governance Models

• The panelists advocate for a "troika" governance model involving governments, businesses, and the citizenry, rather than reliance on a single center of control.
• Tristan Harris calls for an industry-wide "Pugwash" meeting of internet pioneers (e.g., Tim Berners-Lee, Vint Cerf) to establish new norms for digital civility.
• Suggestions include implementing a "Hippocratic Oath" for engineers to prioritize "do no harm" and creating a "Change of View" company to incentivize persuasion rather than domination.
• There is a call for "fiduciary law" to treat user data not as a commodity to be sold, but as a relationship with a duty of care.
• Education is cited as a critical bottom-up solution, specifically teaching "golden rules" for digital behavior to children and integrating media literacy into civics curricula.

Challenges in Implementation and Policy

• Frank Luntz notes that government policy-making operates at the "speed of molasses," failing to keep pace with the velocity of technological change.
• The panel discusses the complexity of Section 230; while it protected the early internet, critics argue it must be reformed now that algorithms recommend content with the reach of mass media.
• Anonymity is debated as a solution; Gabe Brown argues that verified identities (as on Nextdoor) do not inherently reduce incivility, as human nature remains the primary driver of toxicity.
• The global power struggle is highlighted, with the US advocating for open discourse while China promotes state-controlled digital spaces, framing the issue as a geopolitical war for the digital realm.

Specific Outcomes and Statistics

• Only 26% of politicians believe social media has a positive impact on American politics, while 49% believe it is hurting American democracy.
• A 2019 "Delete Uber" campaign shifted internal culture and public perception despite not resulting in mass app deletion, demonstrating the power of specific consumer feedback.
• 79% of Americans have stopped talking to a family member or friend due to political disagreements, driven by the collapse of civility and the algorithms that amplify division.
• Finland successfully combated fake news by leveraging international academic resources to create a national curriculum on media literacy, a model the panel suggests the US should emulate.