Facebook Could Decide an Election—Without You Ever Finding Out

“Digital gerrymandering” represents a frightening future. Here’s how to prevent it.

On November 2, 2010, Facebook’s American users were subject to an ambitious experiment in civic-engineering: Could a social network get otherwise-indolent people to cast a ballot in that day’s congressional midterm elections?

The answer was yes.

Forgetting the Internet

A short story imagines life after the internet forgets.

Even though it was sunny, I knew something was wrong the moment I woke up the day of The Ruling. I didn’t check the news, I didn’t read the paper, I just felt something in the air—an electric current of negativity buzzing in my back pocket where I keep my phone. All morning it shook. It vibrated until it died.

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