The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World

Max Fisher, a New York Times journalist who covered the intersection of social media and conflict for years, brings a reporter's rigour to one of the most important questions in the field: what are social media platforms actually doing to human psychology and political behaviour? His answer, documented through interviews with platform engineers, researchers, and the victims of online radicalisation across multiple countries, is alarming. The engagement-maximising algorithms that power YouTube, Facebook and their competitors are not neutral amplifiers of human preference — they systematically push users towards more extreme content because extremity drives engagement, and engagement drives revenue.

The Chaos Machine is distinguished from similar accounts by its global scope — Fisher documents algorithmic radicalisation in Myanmar, Brazil, Germany and India, not just the United States — and by the access he secured to internal platform research that companies were reluctant to publish. The book makes a critical contribution to understanding why the information environment is structurally hostile to democratic discourse: the problem is not primarily bad actors exploiting neutral infrastructure, it is infrastructure designed in ways that make exploitation easy and profitable. Essential reading for any organisation advising on platform governance, digital risk, or information environment policy.