

Corellation is not causation but in this case it is very suspicious and studies like these show that there might be causation That’s why I said it’s not proof but needs to be studied further.
And yes, of course I mean centralized, profit driven social media. But that is the overwhelming majority of social media.
In Europe we have public news broadcasters in every country, so relying on corporate news isn’t a huge problem.
Anyway, a news outlet pushing propaganda and misinformation is not nearly as dangerous as a social media platform doing it via algorithm. The fact that the algorithm can give you exactly the kind of propaganda that will resonate with you is extremely dangerous.
Not saying privately owned news outlets with a huge reach aren’t a problem, they definetely are, it’s just a whole other dimension.