Garrett M. Graff on "Long Shadow" and the Internet's Descent Into Outrage
The Gist
Mike Pesca
4.4 • 3.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Writer and historian Garrett Graff discusses the fourth season of his podcast Long Shadow, which charts how the internet devolved from a tool of hope to one of outrage and division. He traces that shift to specific corporate choices—especially Facebook and YouTube prioritizing profit by feeding anger and conspiracy. Graff argues that these unregulated algorithms weaponized existing political fractures, often exploited by bad-faith actors like Russia's Internet Research Agency. Also: reflections on Utah Governor Spencer Cox's Sunday-show interviews and the futility of legacy media diagnosing social media's ills, plus a Spiel on missteps, opposition dumps, and the media coverage surrounding the recent assassination.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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| 1:04.1 | Here's one common line of questioning on the interviews, |
| 1:06.8 | on the big broadcast networks this Sunday. |
| 1:09.9 | It was with Utah Governor Spencer Cox. |
| 1:12.8 | This is ABC's This Week, this week. |
| 1:14.8 | Governor Cox also talks about the cancer. |
| 1:17.0 | He called it the cancer of social media. |
| 1:20.4 | How do you get that back? |
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