Mr. Harris Zooms to Washington

<p>Back in January 2020, Tristan Harris went to Washington, D.C. to <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-on-americans-at-risk-manipulation-and-deception-in-the-digital">testify</a> before the U.S. Congress on the harms of social media. A few weeks ago, he returned — virtually — for another <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?511248-1/senate-hearing-social-media-algorithms">hearing</a>, <i>Algorithms and Amplification: How Social Media Platforms’ Design Choices Shape Our Discourse and Our Minds</i>. He testified alongside <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/joan-donovan">Dr. Joan Donovan</a>, Research Director at the Harvard Kennedy School’s <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/">Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy</a> and the heads of policy from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The senators’ animated questioning demonstrated a deeper understanding of how these companies’ fundamental business models and design properties fuel hate and misinformation, and many of the lawmakers expressed a desire and willingness to take regulatory action. But, there’s still room for a more focused conversation. “It’s not about whether they filter out bad content,” says Tristan, “but really whether the entire business model of capturing human performance is a good way to organize society.” In this episode, a follow-up to last year’s “Mr. Harris Goes to Washington,” Tristan and Aza Raskin debrief about what was different this time, and what work lies ahead to pave the way for effective policy. </p>