Do you remember the early days of social media? The promise of connection, of democratic empowerment, of barriers crumbling and gates opening? In those heady days, the co-founder of Twitter said that ...

Algorithms have taken on an almost mythical significance in the modern world. They determine what you see on social media and when browsing online, help form people’s belief systems, and impact the ...

Written for you by our author Tejasri Gururaj, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan —this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep ...