Former U.S. President Barack Obama said the way people communicate via social media risked splintering society and leaders had to ensure the Internet did not cocoon-users within their biases. Obama said in an interview with Britain's Prince Harry, broadcast on BBC radio on Wednesday, that social media should promote diverse views in a way that "doesn't lead to a Balkanisation of our society."
"All of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the Internet," Obama said. "One of the dangers of the Internet is that people can have entirely different realities, they can be just cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases." Obama has previously warned that social media platforms can lead people to make snap judgements about complex decisions although he has refrained from criticising his successor Donald Trump who regularly uses Twitter.
Obama said in the interview broadcast on Wednesday that moving online communities offline helped people to see that many issues were not as simple as they might seem in a chatroom. "It's also, by the way, harder to be as obnoxious and cruel in person as people can be anonymously on the Internet," he said. Obama spoke to Harry in an interview conducted by the prince as a guest editor for BBC radio's daily morning news show and focused on their shared interest in promoting causes.
Harry was asked by the BBC whether he would invite the Obamas to his wedding next year with U.S. actress Meghan Markle. "I don't know about that," Harry said. "We haven’t put the invites or the guest list together. Who knows whether they are going to be invited or not. I wouldn't want to ruin that surprise." The Sun newspaper said on Tuesday that British government officials had urged Harry not to invite the Obamas to his wedding for fear of angering Trump.
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