# Social Media Caused the Rise of [[Populism]] Social media caused the rise of populism by favoring outrage and emotional messaging, allowing populist leaders to bypass traditional media filters, and by undermining collective identity. By design, [[Social Media Algorithms Are Designed to Maximize Engagement]], and the way they do that is by favoring content that triggers a strong emotional response. This kind of messaging makes it easier to sell the idea of a divided society where the people need to defend themselves agains the elite. In the era of traditional news media, populist ideas were challenged by journalists, but social media fundamentally changed the [[Two-Step Flow]], allowing populist politicians to address the audience directly. Fact-checking only reinforced their narrative of needing to fight against the evil elitists. In addition, [[Social Media Gave Birth to Fake News]], allowing populists to label any unflattering news as 'fake'. Lastly, [[Social Media Caused Extreme Polarization in Society and Cancel Culture]], and [[Social Media Undermined Collective Identity|undermined collective identity]], which made it easier to create an 'us vs them' narrative which is susceptible to populist rhetoric.