X, like the One Ring in "The Lord of the Rings," corrupts whoever controls it. Possessing it gives a sense of power, but ultimately it deforms you and isolates you (...) It is true that Twitter allows new ideas to spread through society at an unprecedented speed. But those ideas are transformed in a hostile ideological environment, where complex thoughts are reduced to slogans, the currency is the cheers of supporters, and attention depends on conflict.

The platform's algorithmic preference for new and controversial ideas could temporarily give a voice to those who previously had none (...) It favors ideas and voices that resist censorship, spark controversy, and excite supporters. It discards ideas and voices that require nuance or seek a balance between conflicting values and positions (...).

Musk acquired Twitter in 2022. But the damage Twitter caused to Democrats in 2024, and still causes them today, did not come from Musk's management; it came from what they said when the platform had a more Democratic stance and they mistook retweets for persuasion (...)

What we consider reasonable to say, or even think, is based on what those around us say and think. We are all creatures of convention. These platforms surround us with irrational and antisocial voices, which are almost always more interesting than reasonable and polite ones. This can have useful consequences, since every society perpetuates some injustice through convention and courtesy. But it can also lead to strange and destructive outcomes, when attention is focused on people unfit for leadership and political elites lose sight of how unpleasant their ideas have become.

Politics, throughout the Western world, has become more chaotic and uncontrolled since we began delegating our worldview and ourselves to algorithms that only seek engagement and profit. Making the general environment of political communication more hysterical and scandalous does not generate fairer societies or wiser leaders.

Deliberative habits are good for democracies, but bad for retweets; choosing words carefully is a virtue for a president, but not for an artist or influencer».