Eine lautstarke Minderheit lässt das Internet giftiger erscheinen, als es ist. Eine kleine Gruppe aktiver Benutzer erzeugt die meiste Feindseligkeit, während die Mehrheit höflich bleibt. Dieses Ungleichgewicht führt dazu, dass viele Amerikaner voneinander das Schlimmste annehmen. Die Korrektur dieser Fehleinschätzung kann die Einstellung der Menschen zur Gesellschaft verbessern.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251216081933.htm
25 Kommentare
Somehow we still got Trump
Fuck em
We saw this proved out in real time just a few weeks ago: X suddenly added location data to accounts, and it turned out that a majority of the biggest right-wing influencers were not only not Americans, but were actually located in countries whose foreign policies are hostile to the US.
A small minority driving a massive conversation, and with obvious intent, changing the discourse of an entire nation.
Can confirm, I am a feline operator:
Cats rule! Dogs drool!
The algorithm rewards outrage, not civil discourse. Social media companies figured out years ago that angry engagement keeps people scrolling longer. Until the incentive structure changes, the loud toxic minority will always get amplified because that’s literally the business model.
There’s a lot of money in boosting in extreme views in order to make sure they become popular
Just because they’re a minority, it doesn’t make the internet any less toxic though
Loud minority of bots=motte and bailey fallacies=automatic engagement=automatic advertising.
They need to teach this to every young child. The world is getting worse simply because too many people spend too much online and see all the hate, but it’s not actually what the majority of people are like.
Also sums up Trumps presidency.
I assume the worst about Americans based on actual interactions with Americans
Not to mention the fact that capitalists in America have a vested interest in manipulating algorithms and using bots to push reactionary content to people on social media. For example, 70% of Twitter’s traffic is bots, and it is a nazi infested cesspit.
‚The angry click more‘
Changing people’s feelings with empirical evidence? If that were broadly possible, I don’t think we’d be quite so fucked in the first place.
Yeah, It’s Russians. Always has been.
„One striking example is Reddit, where Americans estimate that 43% of users post highly toxic comments, even though research shows the real figure is closer to just 3%. This gap between perception and reality can quietly fuel a broader sense of pessimism about other people and about society as a whole.“
The article doesn’t explain what is defined as toxic. Seems more like this research is based bias.
That doesn’t surprise me even a little. It’s kind of a shame how Reddit replaced private forums, where people would build a community and interact with the same group of people for many years.
Well this sums up Reddit pretty well..
Gender wars have been really hot in 2025. This can’t be a good sign of the times.
Unfortunately (for rest of us) this “minority” also generates a lot of traffic… which result in ad revenue for FB and X… so don’t expect them to do anything about it… except making it worse by purposefully amplifying assholes.
You will never have civi;ity when providing anonymity…ever.
Hah jokes on them I started assuming the worst about people before the Internet was popularly used. People kinda actually suck for real…
But I know this is also true. I thought everyone has known this for years though? I guess it’s nice to have confirmation.
Why do they insist on pretending they are human users when there’s lots of data that many (most now I think) are bots amplifying a message for profit.
It’s why I always leave a comment. I went on Facebook daily during covid just to call out idiots. I did it while I was taking a s*** in the morning and then I wouldn’t look at it until bedtime. Man, I miss those days. It was a lot of fun if I didn’t think too deep about it.
Social media platforms love the discourse! Ain’t no way we are going to change this until platforms change the way they operate.
I’m very active in some self help communities, as well as places where people often need to ask very specific questions about hobbies I’m into.
The *vast* majority of people I’ve interacted with here have been fucking awesome. I’ve had complete strangers go so far out of their way for me it has left me shocked.
Yeah… It’s not all bad. Just have faith. The vast majority of people are good and kind.