8 Policy Brief No. 22 Toda Peace Institute/Alliance for Peacebuilding or organizations (volume and variety). Social media enables a much faster spread of information, images, and videos (velocity). But the quality and types of the information are highly uncertain (value, veracity, and variability). 4. Social media is a “supply-side shock to the amount of freedom in the world.” (Shirky, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations 2008) Social media has been a massive technological experiment for democracy. But merely giving people access to modes of communication and forms of information does not strengthen democracy. 5. The rise of social media correlates with significant threats to social and political goods. Social polarization, nationalism, and threats to multicultural values are increasing. Democratic freedoms are declining around the world. (Freedom House 2018) Authoritarian leaders and some of those who elect them are undermining social and political goods in the following ways: • Attacking democratic norms and institutions • Undermining belief in science, facts, and news media • Repressing the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities • Corrupting governments to advance their own selfish financial interests How Social Media Works Social media is a broad term, including communication systems such as emails, texts, and blogs as well as social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google platforms, including YouTube. Most of social media’s problems relate to platforms geared toward profit. 6. The Goals of Social Media Platforms. Leaders of social media corporations often seem genuine in their desire to contribute to social and political goods. • Until recently, Google’s motto was “don’t be evil.” Today Google’s mission is to “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” • Twitter’s mission is “is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers.” Twitter’s website states, “We believe in free expression and think every voice has the power to impact the world.” And the company’s page “Twitter for Good” outlines its civic engagement efforts to support social goods. • Facebook’s mission is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” Facebook’s Social Good Forum rolls out new aspects of its platform to aid a variety of social goods, including crisis response, health, charitable giving, and mentoring. And Facebook has observer status in the Global Network Initiative aimed at protecting human rights and corporate responsibility in the tech industry. 7. Social Media Platforms are Profitable Corporations. Social media corporations are geared toward shareholder profit. Facebook’s profits jumped from $26 billion in 2016 to $40 billion in 2017. (Statista 2018) While profit is not