It's funny that we say autocrats are "strongmen" when the truth is they have paper thin skin and can't stand any type of challenge to their word. This is where Maria Ressa starts as she looks at the fall of the Philippines back to autocracy and how social media, Facebook specifically, enables the subversion of the democratic ideal they claim to hold.

In 2011 Ressa was excited about the possibilities that social media was bringing. It allowed the news organizations she worked with to communicate directly to the people and bypass any of the lethargic gatekeepers in society. Over the years though she watched Facebook give tools that autocrats in history would have dreamed of.

Governments have the ability to amplify their messages with bot farms, and humans paid to spread the autocratic misinformation the government wants to spread. Algorithms serve content that radicalize us, as they push towards ever more sensational ideas that outrage us, because outrage juices time on site. Facebook doesn't care if it's a lie or truth, they just want your eyeballs.

This should serve as a stark warning to those that think democracy is unbreakable in the west. Influence campaigns test out their theories in countries with weak government and weak regulations. Then they find what works and bring it to countries with stricter regulations.

If we're not vigilant, western democracy will die.