K. G. Sharma’s article on social media’s impact on core democratic values argues that these platforms exploit psychological mechanisms—proven by Stanley Milgram, Solomon Asch, and Philip Zimbardo—to manipulate users systematically. They manufacture consensus and fuel mass digital hostility, painting a dismal picture in this post-truth era. One wonders how truth might prevail and how values like dissent, accountability, and empathy can endure. Yet Sharma, perhaps simplistically, offers a fresh framework for ethical AI intervention: re-engineering algorithms to actively foster user dissent, accountability, and empathy.
