Regardless of whether <i>this</i> story is true or not, how do we know whether and&#x2F;or to what extent new media backhandedly affects political outcomes?<p>Facebook (if&#x2F;when it wants to) could wield tremendous power in swaying politics throughout the world by adjusting which stories&#x2F;posts people see and which they tend not to. How are people to know that they&#x27;re not being intentionally manipulated?<p>(and if that seems like Conspiracy Theory talk, perhaps first consider that Old Media -- TV, newspapers, radio, etc -- throughout the world very often do exactly this.)