A. In previous decades, the public primarily received news from a limited number of trusted sources, such as national newspapers and television broadcasts. Journalists and editors acted as 'gatekeepers', deciding which stories were important and how they should be presented. However, the rise of the internet, and particularly social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, has fundamentally changed how people access information. Today, many people get their news not from a homepage of a news organisation, but from an algorithmic news feed, a constantly updated list of content personalised for them by a computer program. This shift has raised significant concerns about its effects on public trust in professional journalism. B. The core function of a social media algorithm is not to inform but to engage. These complex systems are designed to keep users on the platform for as long as possible by showing them content they are likely to interact with. An algorithm tracks a user’s behaviour—what they 'like', share, and comment on—and uses this data to predict what they want to see next. If a user frequently engages with posts about a specific political topic, the algorithm will show t…
Power IELTS — power-ielts.com