For Juárez, the main factor behind digital disruption is disintermediation. Basically, that each of us is now our own media outlet. “That’s what these platforms have sold us: You choose what to be informed about and you stay inside a bubble. You seek out information that confirms what you already knew or thought. If you think what happened in Venezuela was good, you will look for information that supports that, and vice versa. It creates an environment where we only hear what we want to hear.”

According to the Digital News Report 2025, the migration to digital platforms—especially by younger generations—is becoming increasingly evident: 16 percent of those surveyed reported turning to TikTok frequently for news. The figure for WhatsApp was 19 percent, Facebook 36 percent, and YouTube 30 percent.

Beyond the Algorithm

Polarization doesn’t need a malicious algorithm to disrupt public conversation; it is an inevitable consequence of the basic design of social platforms. By emulating environments which emphasize certain forms of connection and dialogue, a persistent loop emerges where emotional content is the most visible and, eventually, it shapes the very architecture of the network. It is not a question of users actively seeking conflict or platforms being designed with any malicious intent, but rather the result of a rewarding emotional reaction over measured analysis.

For Petter Törnberg, who worked on the study, “this toxicity is an unintended consequence of the structure of posts and followers. The act of sharing content is often impulsive and deeply partisan; users react to anger or scandal, propagating a narrative that, in turn, shapes their own digital environment. This feedback loop between emotional action and network structure creates an ecosystem where toxicity becomes the organic norm. Ultimately, the mere existence of basic functions such as forwarding and liking seems to be enough to generate these negative results, turning networks into echo chambers that feed on our own reactive psychology.”

“I believe that digital platforms can continue to be a space for resistance and solutions. But in order to avoid becoming echo chambers, there must be a genuine intention to engage in dialogue. And that doesn’t always happen when we are going through a very difficult time,” explains an anonymous Venezuelan source who spoke to WIRED. “When our emotional wounds override reason, it’s very difficult to understand the perspectives of others. For this to be possible, first the wound has to be identified and understood, and sometimes we won’t be able to find the equanimity to engage in a dialogue. However, that dialogue must inevitably occur.”

“We are now experiencing a great deal of polarization among Venezuelans inside and outside the country because of this event, which I personally consider to be a violent act of foreign intervention. I can understand the joy of those who celebrate Nicolás Maduro’s imprisonment as a moment of justice. But at the same time, I am against foreign intervention, against Donald Trump, and against them taking our resources from us,” this Venezuelan source explains. “We have done everything; we have made every effort possible. We are in this situation because we are cornered and vulnerable to US imperialism, but also from Russia and China. Power has led us to this situation of extreme vulnerability. Digital platforms, however, can be spaces of resistance.”

Too Much Information; Too Little Attention

Due to an information overload, our attention span, which is a finite resource, is stretched too thin, explains Juárez: “There comes a point where we shut down and say, ‘That’s it, this is what I think.’ We generally invest as little psychological energy as possible and use shortcuts to reach our conclusions: I saw the video, I saw the quote, I saw the tweet, and that’s it; I’m done. We simplify because simplification serves as an antidote to saturation. When we are drowning in information, we feel disoriented and anxious. The level of that anxiety depends on our proximity to an event. That desire to embrace a certain viewpoint wins out when what we need is to weigh the many real implications of a situation.”

“My main concern is that we have lost the ability to discern between what is false and what is true. We are willing to accept prefabricated stories. If we lose that ability as citizens, we also lose our agency,” Juárez says. “What we are seeing in Venezuela is not the final episode in a story, it is the beginning of a dynamic that will not stop here.”

This story was originally appeared on WIRED en Español and was translated from Spanish by John Newton.