You feed the algorithm, the algorithm feeds you

Illustration/Uday Mohite

The Kolkata rape and the sexual assault at Badlapur has the Internet in a rage. As we scroll past content on the tragedies, bots feed on the crumb trail of Likes, Comments, Shares on Instagram, X, YouTube and Facebook. And soon enough, your feed is full of stories of similar sexual assaults and attacks. It's a full circuit: The rage (read: engagement) wakes and feeds the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which pushes to our feed more things to rage about. And you're caught in an exhausting anger loop (soon, there are ads for exercise apps that teach somatic workouts…)

Mastering SEO is an essential professional skill in the current economy - every business has a presence on social media and is fighting for the consumer's, ie your, attention. And anger powers the engine more than anything else, because an emotion with negative valence (density) travels further and faster.

Manisha Pande and Mayura Saavi

Jay Van Bavel, a professor of Social Studies in New York University, analysed more than half a million tweets - An Ideological Asymmetry in the Diffusion of Moralised Content on Social Media Among Political Leaders - during the Donald Trump vs Joe Biden election and found that moral-emotional words in messages increased their dispersion on the internet by a factor of 20 per cent for each additional word. Politicians, community leaders, organisers (of social movements) use morally-charged emotions to increase the exposure of their message and influence opinion via social networks. The election was riding high on the emotional and moral values that each candidate tried to emphasise during the campaign trail. The Arab Spring was said to be one of the biggest examples pro-democracy protests throughout the Arab world like Egypt, Bahrain. X was used to mobilise pro-democracy protests around the Arab world - with many governments implementing internet shutdowns that did little to stop the wave, like we saw in Libya, which in mid-February 2011 saw a shutdown of government internet services by the late president Muammar Gaddafi.

So are we raging against the machine, or for the machine? It's a double-edged sword: Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha and Niyati Mavinkurve (better known as Abhi and Niyu - @AbhiandNiyu), are popular content creators who highlighted the Kolkata rape incident when most media houses concentrated on Independence day coverage. "At the time, (of making the video) we did not think about who else was talking about it or that we needed to get ahead of the curve. We just did it because it felt like the right thing to do," says Rajadhyaksha. Their channel has 6.6 million followers on YouTube and the first video on the issue is a merely 45-seconds long, discussing the incident and expressing their disgust over it.

Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha and Niyati Mavinkurve

Two more videos came only five days ago that talks about the lack of inaction by the state government, police and judiciary. Mavinkurve says this was a conscious decision because, "we wanted to know more about the investigation. We often go through opinion pieces in newspapers after such sensitive issues before making any content. Opinions from stakeholders often trickle down over the next few weeks and make us more informed."

YouTube has 476 million users Indians engaging with the popular social video platform in July.

Manisha Pande, managing editor at NewsLaundry, recently did a segment about misreporting in the Kolkata rape case, specifically about the amount of semen found in the victim. The journalist, characterised by her tongue-in-cheek humour, points out what goes wrong at the source of such news reports. "We fail to go beyond covering rape as mere crime stories [focusing on sensationalism]. The semen detail, for example, was absolutely unacceptable element of reportage. But the goal is the gorier, the better," she says.

In a news industry that is highly reliant on views and likes for income, sensationalisation will never go on the back burner admits Pande. It was later revealed that the forensic report never seemed to have any information of the presence of semen spelt out in grams.

But there is silver lining to outrage, she argues.

"The Delhi coaching Centre story [where three students drowned in the flooded basement] would not would have made it through one news cycle [24 hours] had it not been for the traction generated by the videos and photos circulated on social media," she says over the phone, "This forced change in policy and safeguards demanded by the government of such coaching centres. Like anything, it depends on what we do with it." With the Delhi High Court asking the centres to ensure functional gates, clear basement access, unobstructed corridors, regular checks for water accumulation, and proper electrical and fire safety measures.

Mayura Saavi, a queer Ambedkarite who has been using social media extensively to mobilise petitions and engage in talks with those who align with her ideals of for social injustice for Dalits and LGBTQAi, feels that while the pitfalls of SEO rage are undeniable, the good outweighs the bad. "The Hathras Case in 2020 left us feeling helpless, trapped by the lockdown. Yet, it also connected us with like-minded individuals who shared similar outrage against the casteist and misogynistic system. Through a WhatsApp group, we formed a community of women and non-binary individuals from diverse professions and across borders. We discussed the case, organised virtual panels, and drafted petitions with the help of lawyers, journalists, and activists. Circulating them widely on social media and tagging government officials gave us hope that, together, we can drive change." She further says, "We remain committed to social justice and will never be silenced." In a 2021 a anti-Citizen Amendment Act protest case study, summarised that Indians are increasingly turning to online platforms, making them a key venue for political debate, and to spur civic activities.

Independent organisations and student-led communities today galvanize online, gather momentum and take to the streets in protest.

How's the rage today?

20%
more amplification of posts on social media if words used were of moral or emotional nature

Also Read: From creators to users: How artificial intelligence is shaping social media feeds