Into The Machine with Tobias Rose-Stockwell Episode 5: What happens when all the good people leave social media?
What happens when the good people leave social media?
Chloé Valdary walked away from 110,000 followers on social media. Not a quiet, lurking exit — but a hard delete.Chloé was a force of nature on Twitter. She built a huge following helping people navigate some of the platform’s thorniest issues with grace and empathy. While many cancelled and called out, Chloé dove headfirst into the hardest conversations offering deep reflection and a dose of savvy humanizing. From George Floyd to Gaza, she was there, helping to deescalate.
Then she left.
In this episode, we unpack what it means when moderates like Chloé leave the platforms that dominate our public conversation.
Who is left? Usually it’s the most polarized and extreme users, who actively own the discourse after that point.
We talk a lot about social media as an Outrage Machine (and my book — of the same title), the hidden incentives shaping our behavior on these platforms, and the mental health cost of constant moral performance.
* If a social platform is a toxic place, what are the obligations we have to the public commons in staying there?
* Are big digital spaces like social media structurally incapable of supporting prosocial conversations?
* Can we protect our mental health while still participating in online political debate?
This conversation explores the trade-offs.
Chloé’s Substack: Musings with Chloé
Chloé’s work: Theory of Enchantment
A small ask:
The irony is not lost on me in trying to critique the algorithms while still being dependent upon them to reach the right audience.
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