Online communities are a unique development in human history, because of the ease with which they can be connected to algorithms devised to optimize for material gain. Moreover, intolerant points of view and simplified communication (likes, tweets, flames, etc.) fit precisely with an algorithm's simplified models of people. This creates powerful feedback loops, the net effect of which are informational segregation that can be easily exploited to divide people in much the same way real-world segregation and prejudice has divided people in the past. This isn't just conjecture. We can see informational segregation technically within online communities, precisely because of their technical nature, and we can see the effects on the power and profit of the entities involved. (...) The hidden detail in all this is how algorithms not only exploit but drive this segregation.

— Rage Inside the Machine by Robert Elliott Smith (5%)