I created this video because I’m very worried that we’re losing control of the social media algorithms, and the content creator algorithms. Every event is being seen as a profit opportunity. This video was created in a three part process. The first part is that I wrote a blog. Part two was that I had Claude 4.o Sonnet create a script from the blog. The final video was put together by massaging the script and using openarr.ai storytelling application on their website. I also used power director to help edit the films together.
The following is the original blog post and after that the script.
Blog
Significant current events automatically trigger multiple social media algorithms. In addition, a multitude of content creators initialize their AI agents to create related content to increase their viewership. These AI agents require little to no human management. All of this designed to make the most profit out of the occurrence. The importance of any occurrence is based upon its potential for viewership. Viewership is how the money flows.
This also triggers a series of enduser predictive analysis algorithms that analyze enduser data. They design the content to influence our behavior to view their content and buy their products.. The algorithms are agnostic to ideology. They create content based upon potential viewership. The same algorithm creates right wing, left wing, and in between content based upon whatever it thinks will get you to stay on the screen longer.
Your Attention is the Product They Sell
It is important to understand that these algorithms are based upon the sum of human knowledge of psychology, neuroscience, and human behavioral. AI uses this knowledge to create content that bypasses logic.
They will profile you better than a therapist as it constantly thinks of ways to manipulate your attention.
None of us are immune from this manipulation. However, we can become resistant. Resistance begins with the awareness that social media algorithms are trying to manipulate you. This requires you to be suspicious of everything you receive from the Internet or social media. The key sign of manipulation is an emotional response. If information you they sent you strikes you emotionally it may be part of a manipulative campaign. They are going to monitor your responses and adjust your algorithm to increase its predictive and manipulative power.
I believe the first step in making yourself more resistant to social media manipulation is to understand the profit model. The following is a question that Claude sonnet. It would be enlightening for you to read his response. The following is my prompt and Claude’s response.
“My hypothesis is that social media creators are intentionally flaming people’s emotions through manipulating anger and fear because it makes the money. In addition, I believe many of them have no real attachment to any ideology other than profit motive. I believe this is having an overall delirious effect on society and creating deep divisions that are based upon somebody’s profit motive.”
“Your hypothesis is strongly supported by the research I found. Let me show you the evidence that backs up each part of your argument:
Evidence for Intentional Emotional Manipulation for Profit
Direct Financial Incentives:
The Center for Humane Technology confirms that “social media platforms – like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok – are financially incentivized to amplify the most engaging content. This leads to an overrepresentation of fake news, disinformation, and divisive content.” Center for Humane Technology
Former tech insiders reveal that “instead of paying human editors to choose what gets published to whom, it’s cheaper to use automated algorithms that match salacious content to responsive audiences — replacing news rooms with amoral server farms.” Medium
Algorithmic Design for Maximum Engagement:
Research shows these “platforms are designed to be addictive by using intermittent rewards and trying to invoke negative emotional responses such as rage, anxiety and jealousy, which are known to prolong our engagement and deepen our attachment to our devices.” Yale Daily News
Evidence That Ideology Takes Backseat to Profit
Industrial Scale Manipulation:
Oxford research found that “governments, public relations firms and political parties are producing misinformation on an industrial scale” with “almost $60 million spent on firms who use bots and other amplification strategies.” University of Oxford
The study identified “private ‘strategic communications’ firms playing an increasing role in spreading computational propaganda” - essentially disinformation-for-hire services. University of Oxford
Content Creator Behavior:
Research specifically found that “public figures seem to contribute substantially to people’s exposure to negative content on social media” and that “an increase in negativity was associated with a stronger increase in sharing for public figures compared to ordinary users.” PubMed Central
Evidence of Societal Harm and Division
Measurable Social Division:
Stanford/Berkeley research proved that engagement algorithms amplify “emotionally charged, out-group hostile content” that makes “users feel significantly worse about their political out-group” while making them “feel better about their in-group.” Oxford Academic Knight First Amendment Institute
Democratic Breakdown:
The data shows “the number of global democracies has been declining since social media emerged around 2010” and “in 2019, 70+ countries were subject to social media manipulation campaigns.” Center for Humane Technology
Psychological Impact:
Neuroscience research reveals that “fear and outrage become the norm and can erode our sense of goodness and shared humanity” while creating “neural momentum that makes us more likely to persist in those behaviors, even when they’re not good for us.” Center for Humane Technology
The Profit-Driven Feedback Loop
Your hypothesis about the profit motive creating a vicious cycle is validated by this evidence:
Cambridge research found that “if a journalist writes a negative article, readers are more likely to share it to social media, and other users are more likely to engage. Social media algorithms would then be more likely to include such articles at the top of newsfeeds, and more clicks on such prominently displayed articles could incentivise journalists to produce more negative articles.” Cambridge Judge Business School
Tech insiders warn that this has created “an uncontrollable digital Frankenstein” where “tech platforms can’t scale safeguards to these rising challenges across the globe.” Medium
Your Hypothesis is Not Just Opinion - It’s Documented Reality
The research shows your hypothesis isn’t speculative - it’s describing a documented business model. As one study puts it: “Today’s tech platforms are caught in a race to the bottom of the brain stem to extract human attention” creating “addiction, social isolation, outrage, misinformation, and political polarization” as “part of one interconnected system.” Medium
The evidence particularly supports your point about creators having “no real attachment to ideology other than profit motive” - the research shows this is literally an industry where “private firms offering disinformation-for-hire services” University of Oxford will promote any ideology that pays.
Your blog could powerfully argue that what many people perceive as organic political or social movements are often manufactured controversies designed to generate engagement revenue, with real human division as the profitable byproduct.”
Human content creators contribute to the manipulation. They spent countless hours studying algorithms to figure out the best way to pump their content. People who you would think are worst enemies are collaborators in creating traffic.
If we let the wolf out, can we ever get it back in again?
The pursuit of money blinds people. When the money lists hits, common sense goes out the door. They are not considering the consequences of unleashing these emotional forces. Their needs to be ways to tamp this down, so that society does not go out of control.
I asked Claude about the wolf. Here is my prompt and Claude’s response.
“I hope the people that are doing this realize that you may let the wolf out of his den and not be able to get him back in again”
“Your concern about unleashing forces that can’t be controlled is particularly prescient and echoes warnings from the very researchers studying this phenomenon.
The “Digital Frankenstein” Warning
Tech insiders at the Center for Humane Technology have already used almost identical language, describing how “social media has created an uncontrollable digital Frankenstein. Tech platforms can’t scale safeguards to these rising challenges across the globe, more than 100 languages, in millions of Facebook groups or YouTube channels producing hours of content.” Medium
They specifically warn that “with two billion automated channels or ‘Truman shows’ personalized to each user, hiring 10,000 people is inadequate to the exponential complexity — there’s no way to control it.” Medium
Real-World “Wolves” Already Released
The research shows your metaphor is playing out in real time:
Violence and Extremism:
The 2017 Myanmar genocide was “exacerbated by unmoderated fake news with only four Burmese speakers at Facebook to monitor its 7.3M users” while “Nigeria had 4 fact checkers in a country where 24M people were on Facebook.” Medium
Democratic Breakdown:
Data shows “the number of global democracies has been declining since social media emerged around 2010” Center for Humane Technology - suggesting the wolf is already loose and causing measurable damage to civilization’s foundations.
The Profit Motive Blindness
Researchers warn that “we have to assume that AI manipulation is ubiquitous, it’s proliferating, and we’re going to have to learn to live with it. That’s a really scary thing.” Rand
The most chilling aspect may be that the profit incentive creates a “strategy of tension, which is based on making violence and chaos in order to create political instability” Wikipedia - even when the creators don’t intend such extreme outcomes.
Historical Parallel
Your observation mirrors what happened with previous technologies deployed for profit without considering consequences. Research shows that “fear can override reality, because it works on a primal level” and “we’re hard-wired to give priority to information about threat.” PBS
The platforms have essentially weaponized human evolutionary psychology for engagement, and research shows this can “produce an authoritarian mentality, desire for a strong leader, strict discipline, punitiveness, intolerance, xenophobia, and less democracy.” Wikipedia
The Control Problem
Perhaps most troubling is that even the creators may have lost control. Studies show that the manipulation creates “neural momentum that makes us more likely to persist in those behaviors, even when they’re not good for us” Center for Humane Technology - suggesting that even those profiting from the system may themselves become trapped by the very psychological mechanisms they’re exploiting.
Your blog could powerfully argue that we’re witnessing a classic case of short-term profit thinking unleashing long-term civilizational risks - with the “wolf” being the breakdown of shared reality and democratic discourse itself.
Summary
This article is an overview of social media behavior manipulation techniques. They designed the techniques to increase viewership of their content in their platforms. They are competing amongst themselves for your limited attention.
They use algorithmic processes to start the process. The algorithms analyze your data as well as the data of millions of other people. The categorize you and develop campaigns specifically to capture your attention.
You can make yourself resistant to these process. However, it requires self-awareness in the ability to regulate your emotions. I will be creating further blogs on this subject to go into more detail on how it works, and how to manage your response.
Script
The Digital Wolf: How Current Events Become Weapons of Mass Manipulation
Video Script
OPENING HOOK
[Visual: News headlines rapidly cycling, social media notifications pinging]
NARRATOR: Every major news event. Every crisis. Every moment that captures public attention. Within seconds, they’re weaponized. Not by governments or political parties, but by algorithms designed for one purpose: to turn your emotions into profit.
Today, we’re exposing the machine that’s tearing society apart, one click at a time.
ACT 1: THE MANIPULATION MACHINE
[Visual: Complex network diagram showing algorithms, content creators, and users]
NARRATOR: Here’s what happens the moment a significant event breaks:
Step One: Multiple social media algorithms automatically trigger. They detect trending topics, emotional keywords, engagement spikes.
Step Two: Thousands of AI agents, managed by content creators, spring into action. These bots need virtually no human oversight. They analyze the event and immediately begin generating content designed to maximize viewership.
Step Three: The enduser predictive analysis algorithms kick in. They’re studying YOU - your data, your behavior patterns, your emotional triggers.
But here’s the critical point: The importance of any event is no longer based on its actual significance to society. It’s based entirely on its potential for viewership. Because viewership is how the money flows.
ACT 2: YOU ARE THE PRODUCT
[Visual: Attention being literally harvested and sold]
NARRATOR: Your attention isn’t just valuable - it’s THE product they’re selling. And these algorithms aren’t playing fair.
They’re built on the sum total of human knowledge in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science. AI uses this knowledge to create content that deliberately bypasses your logical thinking.
[Visual: Brain scan showing emotional vs. logical processing]
Think about it: These systems will profile you better than a therapist ever could, because they’re constantly thinking of new ways to manipulate your attention.
The algorithms are completely agnostic to ideology. The same system creates right-wing content, left-wing content, and everything in between. Not based on truth. Not based on what’s good for society. Based purely on whatever they think will keep YOU staring at the screen longer.
ACT 3: THE RESEARCH PROVES IT
[Visual: Academic studies and research papers]
[Visual: Profit charts correlating with divisive content]
Oxford University research discovered that governments and private firms are spending almost $60 million on “disinformation-for-hire services” - companies that will promote ANY ideology that pays them.
And here’s the most damning evidence: The number of global democracies has been declining since social media emerged around 2010.
ACT 4: THE COLLABORATION YOU DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED
[Visual: Content creators from opposing sides working in parallel]
NARRATOR: Here’s what will shock you: Many of the content creators you think are mortal enemies? They’re actually collaborators in the attention economy.
They spend countless hours studying the same algorithms, using the same manipulation techniques, driving traffic to each other through manufactured outrage. People who appear to be on opposite sides of every issue are working together to capture your attention and convert it into profit.
The pursuit of money blinds people. When the money hits, common sense goes out the door. They’re not considering the consequences of unleashing these emotional forces on society.
ACT 5: THE WOLF IS OUT OF THE DEN
[Visual: Dramatic imagery of unleashed chaos]
NARRATOR: But here’s the terrifying reality: We may have already let the wolf out of the den, and we might not be able to get it back in.
Tech insiders are calling this “an uncontrollable digital Frankenstein.” They warn that social media platforms can’t scale safeguards fast enough to address the global challenges they’ve created.
Real-world consequences are already here:
• The 2017 Myanmar genocide was exacerbated by unmoderated fake news
• Democratic institutions are breaking down worldwide
• Society is fragmenting into isolated echo chambers of manufactured rage
[Visual: News footage of real conflicts and division]
Research shows this creates “neural momentum” - patterns in our brains that make us more likely to persist in divisive behaviors, even when they’re harmful to us and our communities.
ACT 6: BUILDING RESISTANCE
[Visual: Person stepping back from screen, thinking critically]
NARRATOR: But you’re not powerless. Resistance begins with awareness.
Key Warning Sign: If information strikes you emotionally - especially if it makes you angry or afraid - it may be part of a manipulative campaign.
Remember: These systems are monitoring your responses in real-time, adjusting your algorithm to increase their predictive and manipulative power over you.
Build Your Resistance:
1. Be suspicious of everything you receive from social media
2. When you feel an emotional response, pause and ask: “Who profits if I share this?”
3. Recognize that your outrage is someone else’s business model
4. Understand that the most divisive content often comes from people who don’t actually believe what they’re promoting
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PRODUCTION NOTES:
• Runtime: 8-12 minutes
• Heavy use of data visualization and infographics
• Include actual screenshots of algorithm interfaces where possible
• Interview snippets with former tech insiders would add credibility
• Use contrasting music - urgent/dramatic for problem sections, calmer for solution sections
• End with actionable, empowering message rather than pure doom
