The Trolls’ Comeuppance

Adam Serwer: “It is now politicians on the right who find their perceptions skewed by what draws approval on social media and their efforts to tailor their personas to appeal to that audience. If you’re looking for an explanation for why conservatives were shocked that Democrats routed Republicans in the midterms, flipping seats and states that haven’t gone blue in generations, this is a good place to start.”

“When Musk first took over Twitter, I worried that Americans would become trapped in an ‘algorithmic cage’—that right-wing ownership would allow Trump allies to control what Americans saw and heard, and as a result, shape their understanding of reality. I did not anticipate that conservatives would trap themselves in that cage.”