Witness warns social media, AI deepen divides; urges new "town squares" for common dialogue

A witness told the confirmation panel that social media and accelerating technologies are fragmenting public conversation, arguing that separate information bubbles can make citizens' realities "entirely foreign" to one another. The speaker urged policymakers to consider new public forums — "town squares" — to re-establish common ground for civic dialogue.

The witness said, "the rise of social media and the the siloing the information bubbles that we all occupy so that the reality of somebody who's reading the New York Times is entirely foreign to somebody who's watching Fox News." They added that as "technology accelerates and AI and deep fakes and all kinds of nonsense" spread, it becomes more urgent to build shared civic spaces with agreed rules. The transcript does not specify names, organizational affiliations, or a hearing date.