This article examines how the design of online platforms contributes to toxic communication. It argues against the common approaches of solely focusing on technical solutions (automated detection) or human content moderation, and also rejects the notion that toxic communication stems solely from inherently hateful individuals. Instead, it adopts a design-centric approach, analyzing Facebook and YouTube's architectures and functionalities to understand how they facilitate polarizing, impulsive, and antagonistic behaviors. The study finds that Facebook's engagement-driven News Feed prioritizes incendiary content, creating a stimulus-response loop promoting outrage. YouTube's recommendation system, while personalized and engaging, steers users toward increasingly extreme content. The article concludes by suggesting potential design interventions to mitigate these issues and foster more civil online environments.

Luke Munn