That is true, but only works at a single thread level:
Mallory posts some misinformation - A
Alice replies with a rebuttal - B
Bob replies to Alice with further fact-checking - C
Mallory hides Alice’s comment B, leaving Bob’s C only visible to Alice
Eve adds a supporting reply - D
Charlie replies to Eve with a rebuttal - E
Eve can hide Charlie’s E, but Mallory can’t
Now Mallory has to decide whether to:
Hide D+E, losing Eve’s support D
Hope for Eve to hide E
Leave Eve’s support D with Charlie’s rebuttal E visible
If Mallory keeps hiding replies, her post A will have less engagement, with a notification of “Some additional replies are unavailable”.
Meanwhile… Alice doesn’t need to stop rebutting A:
Alice reposts Mallory’s A as a quote with her own comment - B(A)
Mallory can do nothing about B(A) since it’s under Alice’s control
Alice replies to her own B(A) with a quote of Bob’s C - C2
If Alice got to see Charlie’s E, she can also quote it - E2
If people like Alice’s rebuttal, then it can get more engagement than Mallory’s misinformation, which makes the algorithm show it to more people.
So while the system can create echo chambers at a single thread level, as long as a post is open to comments and resharing, which are essential to spreading it, anyone can also grab it and create their own chamber around it.
It’s usual to see these kinds of reposts, with separate discussions, sometimes linking to each other and creating larger discussion pools.
I think there’s the problem though, so Alice posts it on her page.
Now there’s 2 ways people will see it… Either the algorythm is looking. So that’s a popularity contest, assuming the algorythm is going based on engagement etc… Which unfortunately I have to say, historically BS tends to gather larger crowds than popular ones.
More importantly if we are talking algorythms they tend to push people towards the type of content they regularly consume. IE the algorythm is going to push people who are suceptible to BS (Some of which may be the ones who are suceptible, but not so far gone as to be immune to truth) to Mallory’s page. Meanwhile alice’s page will be drawing the skeptics, the ones who would like to push back against it… but can’t. I see the mallory page like the /r/conservative subreddit. A fucking cespool, and most importantly very very determined to push out any views that disturb the narrative… yet with about 10x the views as any specifically left subreddits I can find (though admitted only 1/8th of general politics, which is still leftish by US standards.
That is true, but only works at a single thread level:
Now Mallory has to decide whether to:
If Mallory keeps hiding replies, her post A will have less engagement, with a notification of “Some additional replies are unavailable”.
Meanwhile… Alice doesn’t need to stop rebutting A:
If people like Alice’s rebuttal, then it can get more engagement than Mallory’s misinformation, which makes the algorithm show it to more people.
So while the system can create echo chambers at a single thread level, as long as a post is open to comments and resharing, which are essential to spreading it, anyone can also grab it and create their own chamber around it.
It’s usual to see these kinds of reposts, with separate discussions, sometimes linking to each other and creating larger discussion pools.
I think there’s the problem though, so Alice posts it on her page.
Now there’s 2 ways people will see it… Either the algorythm is looking. So that’s a popularity contest, assuming the algorythm is going based on engagement etc… Which unfortunately I have to say, historically BS tends to gather larger crowds than popular ones.
More importantly if we are talking algorythms they tend to push people towards the type of content they regularly consume. IE the algorythm is going to push people who are suceptible to BS (Some of which may be the ones who are suceptible, but not so far gone as to be immune to truth) to Mallory’s page. Meanwhile alice’s page will be drawing the skeptics, the ones who would like to push back against it… but can’t. I see the mallory page like the /r/conservative subreddit. A fucking cespool, and most importantly very very determined to push out any views that disturb the narrative… yet with about 10x the views as any specifically left subreddits I can find (though admitted only 1/8th of general politics, which is still leftish by US standards.