Want to prevent a civil war? Regulate social media algorithms, says an expert on political violence

In a liberal democracy, people have the right to disagree with one another. That doesn't mean that corporations have a right to exploit those views for profit, and in the process contribute to the fracturing of societies and damage the rule of law, according to a leading political scientist.

Barbara F. Walter, a professor at the University of California San Diego, wrote a book about how to stop the Civil Wars.

In Malaysia, Facebook was used by demagogues to help inciting genocide against the country's Muslim minority, who were depicted as murderers and rapists in content that went viral.

Walter said that in the United States, hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. She argued that tech companies have been acting in ways that are not neutral.

She doesn't like the way social media recommends content to users and she doesn't agree with the way they amplify inflammatory comments.

In her book, she says that people tend to like information that taps into their emotions and that makes them angry. The recommendation engines do more than just recommend more material like that.

She said that addressing that is necessary.

People want to know what the United States could do to reduce the risk of civil war. Walter said that his answer is always the same.

Walter said that democracy is stronger in the US than it was two years ago because the White House is not occupied by people who disregard the result of a democratic election. If someone like Donald Trump were to be elected again, it would be very vulnerable.

Trump used social media to try to hold onto power even though he was about to lose it. Russian President Vladimir Putin has used social media to promote his anti-democratic agenda.

Walter argued that if Putin wanted to weaken France, German, the UK, the United States, he would have to use social media. He has easy access to try to divide these countries if social media is not regulated.

The rise of ethnic groups, of hate crimes, of political violence, have all tracked to the rise of the internet and social media as a main news source.

She argued that the answer isn't censoring.

Walter said to let people put whatever they wanted on social media. Tech companies should not be allowed to push the most extreme material into people's hands in order to keep people engaged on their devices.