4 November

I’ve always been a fan of the possibility of social media. But the reality is destroying our societies. I always talk about populism, and it’s social media that makes populism powerful. Every lunatic can mobilise thousands of like-minded lunatics from around the world. No expertise needed in anything, no checks and balances, just matching opinions. We’ve just seen the leader of the free world, who operates almost entirely via Twitter, try to steal an election, violating multiple laws in the process. His followers love it. Without social media there’d be no way to coordinate them into a group.