Pope warns of social media perils: relationships reduced to algorithms, partisan propaganda, hatred

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis in a speech to Catholic lawmakers has warned against social media reducing human relationships to “mere algorithms” and urged lawmakers to be vigilant against “partisan” propaganda and divisiveness on social media. In his speech on Saturday, he said social media networks can help people realize they are part of something larger than themselves. But he advised vigilance against what he called  “dehumanizing” trends that result from — in his words —  “technocracy.” According to the pontiff, those trends include spreading fake news and promoting hatred and divisions. He also lamented that social media networks can produce a false sense of belonging, especially among young people.