Yes mooman but people don’t. We assume that what we read in the news etc is real, current and about to happen. Sure we can make choices but this isn’t about “Facebook told me this, I can press the yes or no button” it’s often about the subtle influences that colour our daily lives.
Kids, teenagers, uneducated people and people with little time on their hands to study – bear in mind the pace of life today where “snowflakes” are a great example of wanting and therefore accepting everything immediately delivered to them – May even dismiss the headlines but the seed gets planted and grows everytime that a similar trend or topic is experienced.
In some respects Cohen is right – immediate and obvious negative content should be removed, and posting should be delayed but what what be milliseconds in this technical age to avoid murderous, terrorist and anti-humanity content. But filtering out more subtle detail is much harder. But then would you trust the regulator? The paranoia circle may change but not break.
It’s a difficult area but these platforms have global reach and influence, whereas our brains have not grown far beyond managing content within the four walls of our abode, and therefore it changes our perception of our extended locale to be based on fear and digitally implanted stereotypes.