The Values of Platforms

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The incentive is in fact to create a kind of systemic doubt where the most salacious piece of news, the thing that gets the most clicks. There's always a value judgment being made. And if your value is we need attention more than anything else, and I understand because attention is monetizable, right? That's why they do it. But if that becomes the end all be all, then you're going to end up with ridiculous situations," he says.

We agree more than we think we do, but tech platforms distort our perceptions by amplifying the loudest, angriest and most dismissive voices online. In reality, they’re just a noisy faction. This Earth Day we ask Anthony Leiserowitz, Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, how he shifts public opinion on climate change. We’ll see how tech platforms could amplify voices of solidarity within our own communities. More importantly, we’ll see how they could empower 2 billion people to act in the face of global threats.