As a House select committee investigates the causes of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, requesting a variety of data from technology firms that propagated false claims about the election and whose products were used to facilitate the attack, a new report released today from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights authored by Paul Barrett, the Center’s deputy director; NYU research fellow Grant Sims; and myself finds that social media platforms have played an important role in exacerbating polarization and its consequences, including democratic erosion and political violence.

The report, Fueling the Fire: How Social Media Intensifies U.S. Political Polarization—And What Can Be Done About It, also makes recommendations about what the tech industry and government can do to address the problem.

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