What Facebook Did to American Democracy

While US congressional investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections continue to unfold, journalists are starting to piece together the role Facebook played. The social media giant may inadvertently have helped Donald Trump to his surprise victory. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who initially dismissed suggestions that Facebook influenced the elections as “crazy,” has now acknowledged the platform’s role in spreading misinformation. Writing for The Atlantic, reporter Alexis C. Madrigal traces Facebook’s rise as the dominant media distributor and its growing impact on electoral politics. getAbstract recommends this article to citizens in democratic countries, who are wondering how a social networking site can turn into an engine of deception and propaganda