Passage: Not every voice on the internet commands the same kind of audience. When anonymous private entities…
Passage: Not every voice on the internet commands the same kind of audience. When anonymous private entities with high capital can pay for more space for their opinions, they are effectively buying a louder voice. If political discourse in the digital sphere is a matter of outshining one's opponent till the election is won, then the quality of politics suffers. The focus of social media is restricted to the promotion of content that generates more user engagement, regardless of how inflammatory the content may be.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the above passage?
Constructed as a marketplace of views, social media ensures instant access to information.
Social media are not ideal or moral institutions but the products built by companies to make profits.
Social media have been created to strengthen democracies.
In today's world, social media are inevitable for well-informed social life.
Solution
Option (b) is correct: the passage highlights that social media platforms are driven by profit motives, prioritising user engagement and inflammatory content. Option (a) focuses on instant access, which is not the passage's emphasis. Option (c) contradicts the passage, which says political discourse quality suffers. Option (d) on inevitability is not the focus. Hence (b) is the central idea.