“These are businesses. For years, it’s been obvious that more extreme content has been more popular online,” “Marketplace Tech” host Molly Wood said, “whether it was stupid stunts, or eventually far-right political disinformation and conspiracy theories. And that doesn’t just mean spreading a new religion by true believers. It’s profit. Social media companies profited from engagement and clicks and ad revenue. And these conspiracist influencers also profit from engagement and clicks and ad revenue. They’re selling merchandise and books and speaking engagements and soliciting donations. Social media has been a Wild West where there was a lot of money to be made. And, unfortunately, a lot of people figured out that you could make money by telling extreme stories that, equally unfortunately, people would believe. There was a lot of money to be made in deliberately undermining the truth and for these platforms in allowing that to happen. We’re now at a point finally where the danger seems to outweigh the profit.”
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