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‘The Social Dilemma’ Director Says Big Tech Is ‘Separating Us From Reality’

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“The Social Dilemma” director Jeff Orlowski said Big Tech is “separating us from reality,” not “connecting us with the world.”

Orlowski pointed to the insurrection at the capitol on Jan. 6 as an example of this in an interview published Friday by Deadline. Orlowski called the storming of the capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump was a dangerous impact of social media.

“We see how [January 6] just made it so apparent how conspiracy theories, how misinformation, how these platforms that sold us on this idea of connection are actually just increasing tribalism in some ways, and connecting us to like-minded thinking,” Orlowski said. “They are not actually connecting us with the world. They’re distancing us and separating us from reality.” (RELATED: Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Big Tech’s ‘Biased’ Policies After Trump’s Twitter Ban)

Orlowski claimed that Big Tech companies use their algorithms to give users content that they already agree with, according to the interview and said it has only deepened political divisions.

“We haven’t addressed climate change, even though the science has been really clear about that for a long time…Politically, we’re stuck,” Orlowski told the outlet. “That’s one of the things that has me most frightened is that regardless of the issue that you care about, we’re finding it more and more difficult to take meaningful democratic actions because…basically every issue in the world has been in some way, shape or form polarized through these platforms.”