According to Fast Company, social media algorithms are creating customized realities where yoga mat searches tag users as liberals and truck searches mark them as conservatives, feeding them entirely different content ecosystems. Recent killings including right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, elected officials Melissa Hortman and her husband, embassy staffers Sarah Lynn Milgram and Yaron Lischinsky, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner have been tied to rising political violence accelerated by online radicalization. The judicial system’s snail’s pace means convictions like the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting took five years while new permission structures for violence continue emerging. The FBI now identifies “nihilistic violent extremism” as violence driven less by ideology than by alienation, performative rage, and social status seeking. Current fears around AI job loss are making technology executives increasingly exposed to physical threats according to Alex Goldenberg, intelligence director at threat monitoring firm Narravance.
When Justice Can’t Keep Up
Here’s the thing about our legal system – it was built for a world where evidence was physical and timelines were measured in months, not milliseconds. By the time prosecutors can reconstruct someone’s digital radicalization path and secure a conviction, the algorithms have already radicalized thousands more. It’s like trying to stop a flood with a teacup. The nihilistic violent extremism the FBI now tracks isn’t even really about ideology anymore. It’s about belonging. About status. About that sweet, sweet dopamine hit when your rage gets validated by thousands of likes and shares.
The Engagement Economy’s Dark Side
We built an entire economy around keeping people glued to screens, and we’re shocked when the most effective way to do that turns out to be feeding their anger? Look at how the embassy staffers and corporate executives are becoming targets. These aren’t traditional political figures – they’re people caught in the crosshairs of whatever grievance happens to be trending. And right now, that grievance is AI taking jobs. So tech executives join the hit list. Basically, the algorithm doesn’t care what you’re mad about – it just cares that you’re mad enough to keep scrolling.
The Search for Belonging in Digital Tribes
What’s really driving this isn’t politics – it’s the human need to belong somewhere. These algorithms have become master tribal organizers, sorting us into groups that feel like communities but function like echo chambers. The content itself is almost secondary to the validation people get from being part of something. And companies like Narravance are building entire businesses around monitoring these digital tribes for threats because the platforms themselves certainly aren’t solving the problem they created.
Where Does This End?
So where does this trajectory lead? If algorithms keep optimizing for engagement and rage is the most engaging emotion, we’re looking at a future where physical violence becomes the logical extension of online performance. The legal system can’t fix this – it’s fundamentally outmatched. The real solution has to come from redesigning the incentive structures that drive these platforms. But let’s be honest – are companies really going to prioritize public safety over user engagement metrics? I’m not holding my breath.
