On the morning of November 5th, hours before I was faced with the morbid realization that the world was once again becoming exponentially harder for me and the people I love, I was the CEO and co-founder of the app Wildr. I received an email from one Kunal Lunawat. I described the platform as a “troll-free, text-only” social media platform. “Given its historical significance today, I had to reach out,” he wrote, but I was immediately tempted to call it bullshit.
I often receive emails like this from startup founders. This app will solve everything, I promise. They throw around words like “game changer.” They characterize what they have built as a “turning point.” These guarantees rarely turn into cash, and 70% of startups fail between years two and five. That urgency just seems to mask what’s really going on, something Zuckerberg wannabes probably can’t see. Their ideas aren’t that innovative. No matter how many mechanical platitudes you embellish it.
For decades, technologists have been trying to create “healthier” social media platforms by ditching anonymity, hiding likes, eliminating bots, and even making networks bot-only. I’ve been trying to make it. In Wildr’s case, it’s AI (of course). The app, as I deciphered it, promises a “back to basics” by leveraging a text-only format that brings together the best parts of Reddit, Medium, and early Twitter. open communication. Robust dialog. Zero trolls. And it’s all monitored by AI that “encourages” users to post “smooth” content. It’s a big, perhaps impossible, challenge, and one I would have liked to hear more about.
If anything, Runawat’s utopian dreams became harder to accept as the election results became clearer. America was addicted to Trump. Traditional Wives and Truth Society’s adherents want mass deportations and getting high on fluoride-free water. The trolls won.
But then I caught myself. I emailed him back because I wanted to face the reality of what was going to happen again over the next four years and probably protect myself from the complete and never-ending hysteria of it all.
My big question for Lunawatt, and perhaps yours as well, is what exactly is needed for a troll-free platform? Social media, by definition, is meant to foster connection, but more than that, it remains a bright hope that connection opens. In short, it’s a roadmap for learning from and challenging each other. These challenges can deepen our understanding of the world and even change our thinking. And that’s really good. So where is the line between trolling and simply disagreeing with someone’s opinion?
