Many online spaces for political discussions are no better. To paraphrase Audrey Tang, Facebook is like trying to have a political discussion in a nightclub. (11) Some online spaces are far worse, involving people or bots who take a “no-holds-barred” approach to the things they say, or worse, may actively seek to incite a virtual mob to go after yo... See more

While Mr. Goldhaber said he wanted to remain hopeful, he was deeply concerned about whether the attention economy and a healthy democracy can coexist. Nuanced policy discussions, he said, will almost certainly get simplified into “meaningless slogans” in order to travel farther online, and politicians will continue to stake out more extreme positio... See more