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West Virginia University researcher explains study of polarization, extremism on youth

Dana Coester, a professor at West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media, discusses the risks of exposure to extremist ideologies in online youth culture during WVU’s Academic Media Day on Monday. (Photo by Derek Redd)

MORGANTOWN — A researcher at West Virginia University said youth in West Virginia and beyond are being negatively influenced by social media content and memes that often escape the scrutiny of parents.

Dana Coester, a professor at the Reed College of Media at WVU, briefed reporters from around West Virginia on her studies of polarization and online extremism during the return of Academic Media Day on WVU’S Media Innovation Center in Morgantown.

Coester, who also serves as creative director for WVU’s Media Innovation Center and editor-in-chief for 100 Days in Appalachia, said teens and young adult males are being targeted by weaponized social media posts designed to push them towards extremism.

“It’s not a fair fight,” Coester said. “Millions of dollars of cognitive theory and behavioral neuroscience go into designing systems that drive individuals to extremes and for great profit. When this is amplified by sophisticated bad actors … the tactics are too complex for children, parents, and individual community members to combat alone.”

Coester and her colleagues at WVU have been working on a study using Instagram to simulate a 13-year-old boy based in West Virginia. The researchers were able to replicate the kind of internet access the hypothetical 13-year-old would have, followed only the accounts – often generated by bots – that follow the test account first, and used passive decision making in order to see what kind of content Instagram’s algorithm would deliver to the fake account.

“We thought we would see toxic content sort of accumulate slowly,” Coester said. “However, the account was full of targeted toxic content within just a few days. We realized — much to our horror — that as bad as the content was and what we were seeing in the organic research that we were doing of real networks, that the decision-making that young people in our community were making was actually diluting the toxic content. Left to its own devices, it very rapidly became toxic.”

In their research, Coester said that much of the toxic and extreme social media content and memes they have seen over the years can often be found used by young men in justifying all kinds of violence, including mass shootings at schools and public settings. What can start as an innocent meme shared as a 10-year-old can escalate over a decade into violent rhetoric and action.

Coester broke down the kinds of groups that often traffic in memes and social media reports. These include trolls/non-state actors who post content for the reaction it receives; state actors based in other countries trying to foment division within the U.S.; non-organized actors; organized extremist groups, such as known hate groups; groups with financial incentives, also called “arms dealers.”

Another problem is the algorithms that social media platforms use to deliver content based on the interests of those already looking at memes. Originally designed to keep users engaged longer, they now take users further down rabbit holes and into extreme content they otherwise would never encounter.

Coester said that new regulations are needed in some cases when it comes to the responsibility social media companies have for the kinds of content on their platforms. But she is also interested in the idea of the next generation of innovators coming up with future-looking solutions and building the kind of internet users can enjoy.

“I am torn between my thoughts on this as a researcher looking at the platforms, teaching media law and ethics and all of those things, and then also as a parent,” Coester said. “Somebody else that I really respect and admire in this space said that we need to stop talking about how to reform the internet we have and how to build the internet we want. So that is sort of more exciting to me in thinking about moving toward that space.”

Coester is also a director and producer of “Raised By Wolves,” a documentary looking the culture of Appalachian young men and youth culture.

Reporters also learned about research at WVU into the harmful effects of children using phones, tablets, and online technologies.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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