Social media companies feast on violence and hatred instead of backing real news

It is time to rip the mask off these monsters and reveal what social media giants really are: extollers of destruction who are happy to see the world burn for the sake of an algorithm, writes Joe Hildebrand.

A decade ago, as ISIS was ravaging Syria, I heard a former CIA agent interviewed on ABC radio.

I have long since forgotten his name, if I ever caught it in the first place, but what he said was of such profound importance that it ricochets in my brain almost every day.

The Syrian Civil War was one of many conflicts sparked by the so-called Arab Spring – protests and uprisings against dictatorships across the Middle East, typically sparked by students and other activists demanding democracy.

But, as had happened elsewhere, this noble cause was quickly hijacked by extremists seeking to overthrow the same regimes for ideological and religious reasons.

Thus in Syria the cruel dictatorship of Bashar Al Assad was being fought against by heroic freedom fighters as well as ISIS jihadists who were even more psychotic than Assad himself.

This presented a cruel moral dilemma for Western powers who naturally wanted to support the pro-democracy faction but not the pro-beheading one.

So why, the ABC interviewer was asking, could the US not simply give weapons to the good guys?

Because, the CIA guy replied, every time they gave weapons to the good guys they ended up in the hands of the bad guys. The routine went something like this:

Bad guy: Give me that gun.

Good guy: No.

Bad guy: Give me that gun or I’ll kill you and your entire family.

Good guy: Okay.

In other words, in a lawless, chaotic world, power always flows to the most extreme, those who are most ruthless and violent in their willingness to seize and exercise it.

I found myself thinking this yet again in the act and ugly aftermath of the alleged terror attack in Western Sydney, both of which were fuelled by the lawless chaos – and limitless virulence – of social media.

What was once Twitter is now X. Picture: AFP

Despite all its initial promise of empowerment and democratisation – the new “town square” as Twitter was so often dubbed – there can be little doubt that most social media is not the cobblestone or concrete underpinning public debate but the sewer that runs beneath it.

Twitter, now just called “X” appropriately enough, is especially overrun by extremists, ideologues and eye-watering egotists on both the left and the right.

It is now perfectly curated for nothing but the elitist and activist culture wars that increasingly undermine mainstream Australia.

By way of a straw poll, the top trending topics when I checked on Saturday night were “Laura Tingle”, “Janet Albrechtsen”, “Dan Andrews” and “One Nation”. Minutes later, “Assange” rocketed up the charts.

Just think about that for a moment and then contemplate how most people spend their Saturday nights. X’s users are more cooked than Joe Biden’s last brisket.

But that bottom of the barrel is just the tip of the iceberg. Because even above and beyond all the knuckle-dragging dribble, all the more nauseating from those who think they know better, these platforms are literally enabling terrorism.

This was clear in the October 7 atrocities that were painted as heroics by both the terrorists themselves and the useful idiots in the West that supported them.

It was clear in the abominable 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre that was live-streamed on Facebook – with videos still remaining online even six months later.

Vision of the attack on a bishop in western Sydney went viral on social media platforms including X.

And it was clear in Sydney when the alleged Wakeley church terror attack was live-streamed and the mob response likewise spread like wildfire.

And so, like in a lawless war zone, in the lawless world of social media, power immediately flows to the most violent and extreme.

It would be bad enough that these Pontius Pilates simply wash their hands of the content they publish and effectively say it’s all too much, there’s nothing they can do.

But even when presented with the most modest and humane option of doing something, they reveal their intentions not just to be indifferent but malevolent.

X owner Elon Musk. Picture: AFP

In the latest case, X was asked by Australia’s eSafety commissioner to simply remove the clearly traumatic footage of the Wakeley attack. Astonishingly, X said it would fight the order in court.

And so here we have platforms allowing mosque massacres to be uploaded and fighting for the right to host live-streams of alleged terror attacks – not to mention the blossoming epidemic of posts glorifying and encouraging youth crime – yet refusing to pay a cent to feature any real news amid this apocalyptic carnage.

If this is not a recipe for a reckoning then God knows what it will take. This is not about free speech, it is about free death.

It is time to rip the mask off these monsters and reveal what they really are: extollers of destruction who are happy to see the world burn for the sake of an algorithm.