Social media algorithms severely limit our interactions and exposure to other perspectives. However, individuals could still have a responsibility regarding their engagement online. Current literature focuses mostly on echo chambers, algorithmic control, and misinformation. Echo chambers are defined by manipulation whereas epistemic bubbles can be innocently or accidentally exclusive. Instead of algorithms, I consider the role people play in creating social media epistemic bubbles (SMEBs) and the consequential harms on one’s epistemic norms and status as a knower.

This paper utilizes Derrida’s philosophy of tele-technology to examine how social media shapes perceptions of religious violence. Although Derrida did not witness the advent of social media, he already saw how the widespread ownership of television and the accessibility of portable cameras in the late 50s and 60s marked a turning point in our ‘access’ to events all over the world. Today, social media has intensified this access further, as the digitization of our lifeworld provides unparalleled access to free information.

Are social media companies responsible for disinformation? Studies of how algorithms prioritize information suggest that social media significantly contributes to the spread of disinformation. However, the theoretical resources for making sense of responsibility for spreading falsehoods are limited. A testimonial view of responsibility holds that information conduits like Facebook are not responsible. On this view, platforms are merely sources of information, and the proper locus of responsibility is rather with originators (Fricker, 2012).