Is There a Moral Responsibility for Social Media Companies?

Recent polling has found that a majority of Trump voters (52%) and a significant number of Biden voters (41%) support breaking up the country. Has our animosity and disgust for each other made reconciliation impossible? Are we heading toward a national divorce? Skye Jethani and David French discuss his recent articles about the rise of malice in our political divisions and within the church. Why have so many evangelicals embraced anger as a virtue, and how has our pragmatic theology contributed to the problem? Then, they debate the role of social media in the breakdown of national unity and the recent leak of the “Facebook Papers.” French is reluctant to blame social media companies for what is ultimately a problem with human hearts, while Skye says the tech giants must take more responsibility for the damage their platforms are inflicting.

Malice and anger in political division [00:28] https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/personal-harassment-is-spiraling

https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/jd-vance-and-the-great-challenge

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10050039/More-HALF-Trump-voters-want-red-states-secede-union.html

Malice and anger in the church [20:34

]Social media and the “Facebook Papers” [38:11] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/facebook-papers-democracy-election-zuckerberg/620478/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-algorithm-change-zuckerberg-11631654215