As he slogged through a bitter campaign, one marked by conspiracy theories and uncharacteristically heated rhetoric, Cox realized something had changed in his state. “There’s kind of been a breach in the stronghold,” he told me at the time.
Cox looked for ways to close the breach. He launched “Disagree Better.” He filmed ads alongside his political opponents making earnest appeals for democracy and decency. Convinced that young people in his state were being poisoned by radicalizing content on the internet, he signed a first-in-the-nation law designed to limit children’s access to social media. (Social-media companies sued, so the law, tied up in court, has not gone into effect.) Still, the breach widened. Nothing seemed to reverse the torrent of nasty, feral politics flowing in from the rest of the country.
Cox told me he had no doubt the alleged shooter’s worldview had been warped in some very dark corners of the internet. And watching the online discourse around Kirk’s murder this week only underscored the damage done by algorithmically incentivized ghoulishness. “Discord, 4chan, Twitter, Bluesky—these things are really hacking our brains and hijacking our agency,” he told me. “The worst of humanity is in our pockets.” Even the most carefully constructed sanctuary can’t withstand an onslaught like the one generated by Silicon Valley.
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Cox looked for ways to close the breach. He launched “Disagree Better.” He filmed ads alongside his political opponents making earnest appeals for democracy and decency. Convinced that young people in his state were being poisoned by radicalizing content on the internet, he signed a first-in-the-nation law designed to limit children’s access to social media. (Social-media companies sued, so the law, tied up in court, has not gone into effect.) Still, the breach widened. Nothing seemed to reverse the torrent of nasty, feral politics flowing in from the rest of the country.
Cox told me he had no doubt the alleged shooter’s worldview had been warped in some very dark corners of the internet. And watching the online discourse around Kirk’s murder this week only underscored the damage done by algorithmically incentivized ghoulishness. “Discord, 4chan, Twitter, Bluesky—these things are really hacking our brains and hijacking our agency,” he told me. “The worst of humanity is in our pockets.” Even the most carefully constructed sanctuary can’t withstand an onslaught like the one generated by Silicon Valley.
Trump Has a Warning for Spencer Cox
Utah’s grieving governor opens up about his state, the country’s dangerous spiral, and a haunting conversation with the president.
www.theatlantic.com