Social Grooming: Algorithms mis/shaping political discourse for young voters

Three quarters of young Australians are likely to have been exposed to toxic, politically-divisive content on social media, such as Covid denialism, Qanon conspiracies, or extreme men's rights views. Whether or not these young people are interested or searching for such content, platform algorithms are pushing it into their feeds. Around the world we have seen real-world repercussions of social media misinformation and political propaganda. To protect our democracy we need to find ways to limit the exposure of young people to potentially polarising material.