The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World

From New York Times investigative reporter Max Fisher, this account examines how social media companies' pursuit of engagement and profits has fractured the world. The book tracks how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms used algorithms designed to exploit psychological vulnerabilities, driving users toward extreme opinions and actions. Fisher documents how the companies' founding principles, combined with a focus on maximizing engagement, destabilized societies globally. He traces the spread of hate speech and its escalation into violence across different regions, culminating in events in America including the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol Insurrection. Throughout, the social-media giants largely refused meaningful intervention, prioritizing profits over responsibility. The result, Fisher argues, is a cultural shift toward polarization driven by misinformation, outrage, and fear rather than fact-based beliefs. The book also features accounts from Silicon Valley defectors and outsiders who exposed what occurred within these companies. Fisher presents both a panoramic history of these tech companies' rise and a call to address the damage inflicted on minds and society. Finalist for the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism.