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Why Facebook really, really doesn’t want to discourage extremism

Our research finds outrage is what goes viral — and that makes money

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July 13, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
A thumbs-up Like logo on a sign at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., in April 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP)

Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported Facebook executives allegedly shut down internal research showing the platform increased political polarization and declined to make changes that might make the platform less divisive.

Why might Facebook be reluctant to reduce polarization on its platform? Our study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, might offer an answer.