Ed Coper on 'Angertainment': How social media algorithms monetize political outrage
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Mon 1 Jun 2026 at 11:00amMon 1 Jun 2026 at 11:00amMon 1 Jun 2026 at 11:00am
Sat out too long. The crust has gone leathery.
Summary
Political advisor Ed Coper discusses how social media platforms algorithmically amplify anger and outrage to maximize engagement, coining the term 'angertainment' to describe the monetization of rage. He argues that platforms deliberately trigger our threat-detection instincts, fueling political polarization and division across the spectrum. Coper offers an antidote: understanding this machine to build guardrails that protect democracy, heal divisions, and reclaim the attention economy from those who profit from anger.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledOur rage is being monetised cold-bloodedly by social media platforms.
This digital, online machine has planted us in what he calls the era of 'angertainment'.
An entire outrage industry is harvesting our worst impulses with algorithms that deliberately trigger the caveman switch in our brains.
We need to understand this machine in order to build guardrails that preserve democracy, heal divisions and protect future generations.
The 'angry clowns' who currently rule the attention economy.
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