longer.blue

TikTok radicalization has gone on long enough. Algorithms learn what makes people angry, afraid, and addicted—and then feed them increasingly extreme versions of it. People can enter TikTok looking for entertainment and slowly emerge convinced that everyone on the other side is evil. Radical feminism, radical left-wing ideology, misogyny, conspiracy theories, racial hatred—whatever the ideology, the mechanism is the same. Outrage captures attention. Attention produces profit. The algorithm keeps escalating. It’s time to take this seriously. Talk to your family. Talk to your friends. Ask what they’re watching and how it’s affecting the way they see other people. Encourage them to investigate claims, follow original sources, and spend time outside their algorithmic bubble. Don’t attack them. Don’t shame them. Ask questions and help them think. We don’t need to wait for some government task force to rescue everybody. Each of us can intervene when someone we love is being consumed by hatred, fear, or ideological obsession. Reach out. Start the conversation. Take responsibility for the people around you. If an algorithm can gradually radicalize someone, real human connection can help bring them back.