The guide says expression brings people and communities together — and it also divides them. Both come from the same thing, which is why neither can simply be removed.
The same act of expression gathering people and dividing them, and the ranking that amplifies both.
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The benefit is not evenly spread. It is largest for people who are rare where they live — and for them it can be the difference between isolation and a community.
Who gains most
- Someone with a rare medical condition, meeting others who have it.
- A diaspora keeping a language or a practice alive across countries.
- A young person whose identity is not accepted where they live.
- A carer, a night-shift worker, anyone whose hours exclude them from local groups.
And the same mechanism: A group that forms around what it shares also forms around what it is not. Nothing in the technology distinguishes a support group from a hostile one — both are people finding each other.
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Real-world examples you can name
#BookTok and algorithmic taste — from 2020
A community of readers posting short book videos whose recommendations, amplified by TikTok's ranking, put backlist titles onto bestseller lists years after publication and changed how publishers market fiction.
Who it affected: Readers, authors and booksellers — an industry reshaped by a recommender.
The Christchurch attack livestream and the Christchurch Call — attack March 2019; Call launched May 2019
An attacker livestreamed a mass shooting; copies were re-uploaded faster than moderation systems removed them. New Zealand and France then convened governments and platforms around a shared commitment to eliminate terrorist content online.
Who it affected: The victims' communities, and moderators and users exposed to the footage.
YouTube's recommendation system — deep-learning system described 2016; borderline-content changes from January 2019
A ranking system that predicts what a viewer will watch next, which the company has said drives the majority of watch time. After criticism that it led viewers towards ever more extreme material, the company began demoting 'borderline' content rather than removing it.
Who it affected: Roughly two billion monthly viewers, and creators whose income depends on the ranking.
The system cannot tell them apart: Ranking by engagement promotes agreement inside a group and conflict between groups, because both hold attention. Neither outcome was chosen; both are produced.
How this is tested — questions about online community are dilemma questions, so they need both halves. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part c: evaluate the effect of a platform on a community
- Part b: explain why a described group formed online
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q3: contrast sources on whether a platform unites or divides
- Q4: synthesise sources on online community
The trap: choosing a side: An answer that is all connection, or all polarisation, cannot pass the middle band. The mechanism produces both.
Explain one reason why online communities matter most to people who are isolated locally.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
To what extent do digital platforms bring communities together?
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.