Building a Better Twitter Twitter’s current policy on content isn’t one dimensional: It serves up both false positives and false negatives—wrongly banning certain accounts for thoughtcrimes while permitting others to continue on the platform despite engaging in grotesquely abusive behavior. The Quillette Editorial Board 6 May 2022 · 4 min read
Musk and Moderation Reports that Twitter has accepted [https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-elon-musk-won-twitter-11650943029?mod=e2tw] Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company for $54.20 a share have provoked much handwringing about his attitudes to free speech, especially with respect to possible changes in the social media platform’s moderation policies. Jim Rutt 27 Apr 2022 · 10 min read
How Much Real-World Extremism Does Online Hate Actually Cause? While calls to censor hate speech and violent extremist content on social media platforms are common [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/30/mark-zuckerberg-calls-for-tighter-internet-regulations-we-need-a-more-active-role-for-governments.html] , there’s little evidence that online incitement [https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000260382] leads to real-world radicalization. Ironically, such calls may actually galvanize extremists, Bill Ottman and Jesse Morton 20 Mar 2022 · 6 min read
Involuntarily Celibate: Explanations and Practical Solutions to a Dangerous Phenomenon The overall picture from our results is that places where local conditions make it harder than usual for young men to establish themselves as attractive mating prospects tend also to be places where online Incel action is more common. Rob Brooks 20 Jan 2022 · 6 min read
An Outback Conspiracy Misinformation results from the toxic combination of these two defining features, a lack of proximity to the Territory, and viewing the world through the lens of oppression. Matthew Blackwell 28 Nov 2021 · 12 min read
Facebook: The New Big Tobacco or A Media Moral Panic? Social media changes the way people relate to each other whether they use it or not, and whether they use it sparingly or heavily. Quillette 26 Oct 2021 · 20 min read
The Exhibitionist Economy Upcoming generations will not thank us for gifting them a world devoid of the concept of personal privacy. Ari David Blaff 15 Oct 2021 · 7 min read
Instagram's Mental Health Emergency The main ethical problem posed by Instagram is that young people are not mature enough to give informed consent to having their preferences harvested and fed back to them by a corporation that specialises in attention manipulation. Claire Lehmann 4 Oct 2021 · 11 min read
Podcast #168: Jonathan Haidt on Instagram’s Mental Health Emergency Jonathan Kay speaks with Jonathan Haidt about the emotionally destructive effect of social media on many young users. Quillette 4 Oct 2021 ·
Inflammatory Anti-Racism The fear of being branded with one of the most deadly contemporary sins has generally ensured a pusillanimous collapse by corporations, institutions, and individuals. John Lloyd 29 Aug 2021 · 10 min read
The Victims’ Race Victimhood may confer ancient and effective advantages, but researchers are nonetheless alarmed by the scale of digital self-harm in adolescents, and the recent recourse to false accusations more generally. Tomasz Witkowski 27 Aug 2021 · 9 min read
Children Are Lonelier Than Ever. Can Anything Be Done? Loneliness was generally stable (with the bright spot being a significant drop in Asia) from 2000 to 2012 and then quickly reversed itself in all regions. Camilo Ortiz and Stephanie De Leo 16 Aug 2021 · 8 min read
When You’re Diagnosed with Autism—by TikTok It’s notable that no-one on TikTok is diagnosing themselves with schizophrenia or severe personality disorders such as antisocial and borderline. Lucy Kross Wallace 3 Aug 2021 · 9 min read
Gender Transition and Desistance in Teenage Girls: Two Psychotherapeutic Case Studies Detransitioners and desisters can also feel angry at psychiatric and medical specialists, who they understandably believe have not adequately assessed their motivations for requesting medical intervention. Susan Evans and Marcus Evans 30 Jul 2021 · 27 min read