Obviously algorithms and bots already massively twist people's perceptions of each other on social media. They boost controversial posts and ones that shift your focus quickly, as well as propaganda that the company owning the platform wants you to see. And of course they tend to boost trolling and infighting in groups they don't like, especially leftist and anti-capitalist ones. Old news.
But as AI gets better at both processing social media content and generating fake content, I wonder if it will be used for more direct mental manipulation. Like if you interact positively with a post the algorithm "likes", it won't only show you more like it, it will show you something you like to give you a little dopamine or make you feel more at home with the accounts you're following, and if you engage with something it doesn't like it will do the opposite. Eventually it could do the same in response to things you do in real life, using location data, security cameras etc.
Basically the same way someone emotionally abusive tries to manipulate you, or the way nazis and other fascist groups target lonely people and accept them only if they go along with their beliefs, I'm thinking tech companies could possibly do that on a larger scale.
Is this possible / coming soon / already happening? I'm interested to hear your opinions. And is there any information out there on this? I could have sworn I saw an article headline predicting something about it a few years ago but I never read it and now I can't find it
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