Social Media and the Internet Are Built for Emotion

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The original premise of social media was that it was going to bring us all together, make the world more open and tolerant and fair. Andrew Marantz: Algorithms have never been built to distinguish between what's true or false in a conversation. He says bigoted propaganda is great for engagement because everyone clicks on it. We will be right back with more from Andrew Marantz after this quick break.

The internet can be a wonderful, but also a terribly unpleasant place. Andrew Marantz knows this well. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker who spent three years embedded in the world of internet trolls to understand how regular people propel fringe talking points into the heart of online conversations. In this episode, he shares how ideas spread on the internet – and what we can do to make our digital experiences less about doom-scrolling, and more about real human connection. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts