Online-Diskussionen werden von einer kleinen, extrem lauten und nicht repräsentativen Minderheit dominiert, die toxisches Verhalten, Fehlinformationen und Konflikte verbreitet und dabei die Wahrnehmung vieler passiver Nutzer verzerrt. Dies kann zu schädlichen Folgen wie falscher Polarisierung, der Normalisierung ungesunder Verhaltensweisen und verstärkter Feindseligkeit zwischen Gruppen führen.

Claire E. Robertson, Kareena S. del Rosario und Jay J. Van Bavel schreiben in »Inside the funhouse mirror factory: How social media distorts perceptions of norms« für sciencedirect.com

Online discussions are dominated by a surprisingly small, extremely vocal, and non-representative minority. Research on social media has found that, while only 3 % of active accounts are toxic, they produce 33 % of all content [4]. Furthermore, 74 % of all online conflicts are started in just 1 % of communities [5], and 0.1 % of users shared 80 % of fake news [6,7]. Not only does this extreme minority stir discontent, spread misinformation, and spark outrage online, they also bias the meta-perceptions of most users who passively “lurk” online. This can lead to false polarization and pluralistic ignorance, which are linked to a number of problems including drug and alcohol use [8], intergroup hostility [9,10], and support for authoritarian regimes [11]. Furthermore, exposure to extreme content can normalize unhealthy and dangerous behavior. For example, teens exposed to extreme content related to alcohol consumption thought dangerous alcohol consumption was normative [12].