Welt/N24: 15 years of Facebook - Our brains are not into truth

How has Facebook changed our life together in the last 15 years?

Will the network still manage to change its image or is it already history? In this TV contribution, I have analysed the "largest state in the world". Because that is exactly what Facebook's community is. The company also sees itself that way. And that gives us an outlook on how we will organise our life together in the future.

Democratisation of information and lies

In the beginning, Facebook fulfilled the internet's promise of democratising media information. However, no one could have expected fake news.

"Our Stone Age brain is not into truth, it's into happy hormones."

In Macedonia, there is the village of liars: instead of remaining poor, the people there have set up 140 fake news portals and earned money with them. Our Stone Age brain is not interested in truth, but in happiness hormones. And there are none for truth, because it is usually too boring. The attention is focused on lurid fake news. And for this there is advertising revenue.

Does Facebook have a future?

Facebook will continue to play a big role in the next few years. For young people, it is no longer hip to be on a network where their parents are. And despite all the criticism, Facebook enables authentic social communication, social feedback and that makes people happy. That's why user numbers are not really declining. Click here for the TV report.