Is social media doing more harm than good to democracy?
In the U.K., The Guardian newspaper announced earlier this month that it will no longer be posting on X, claiming that it is “a toxic media platform” and that its owner, Elon Musk, “has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.” Is social media a useful tool or is it becoming a threat to democratic societies? Alan Rusbridger and Pratik Sinha discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Priscilla Jebaraj. Edited excerpts:
How much should a news outlet or even regular users be worried about the ownership of a social media platform in deciding where to post and where to consume news?
Alan Rusbridger: It is a real dilemma because Twitter (now X) was for many years a really wonderful place for posting news, finding audiences, finding out news, and building...