Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli historian, warned that social media platforms have conducted a planetary psychological experiment on billions of humans. The experiment identified which stimuli—fear, hatred, greed, indignation—most effectively prolong user engagement. "Trust has moved from people to algorithms," Harari said during a discussion with American journalist Ezra Klein on "The Ezra Klein Show" podcast.

Harari's analysis centers on a crisis facing liberal democracies. A large global population has lost trust in traditional institutions—governments, media, science, academia—while simultaneously trusting the algorithms that configure their daily news feeds. Major platforms including Facebook, X, and TikTok optimize for user attention.

The result: an information flow altered at its foundation, with societal trust redirected toward digital systems rather than human institutions. The platforms' operations, according to Harari, amount to deliberate manipulation. Algorithms identify emotional triggers and deploy them systematically.

Fear and anger keep users scrolling. Hatred and indignation keep them returning. The goal is maximizing time spent on the platform.

Harari described the outcome as a state of "hyperexcitation"—the entire world subjected to chronic emotional overload. Klein, who hosted the discussion, agreed that modern liberalism faces a deep crisis. Both identified the erosion of institutional trust as a defining challenge.

Harari emphasized that citizens now exhibit profound skepticism toward the very structures that once anchored public life. What replaced that trust? Systems designed not to inform, but to capture attention.

Harari explained that social networks altered not just individual behavior but the structure of public narratives. Digital platform algorithms determine which information reaches users, in what sequence, with what emotional framing. The shift is structural.

Where information flow once passed through editorial institutions with stated standards, it now passes through proprietary systems optimized for engagement metrics. The psychological cost, Harari warned, is measurable: emotional exhaustion, societal fragmentation, eventual collapse. The human body is not equipped for constant alertness.

Harari noted that the deliberate flooding of information spaces with emotionally charged content produces a population in perpetual stress response. The platforms identified the stimuli. They deployed them at scale.

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Billions of users became subjects in an experiment they never consented to join. Several EU member states are now debating a ban on social media for minors under 16. The motivation: evidence that young users are losing concentration, sleep, and emotional balance.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced development of a European age verification app. Implementation is scheduled soon. Von der Leyen stated that technology companies "no longer have excuses" for failing to protect young users.

The regulatory push reflects growing recognition that algorithmic influence requires accountability. The European Union's measures represent an attempt to impose democratic oversight on platforms that operate globally with minimal constraint. Whether such measures prove effective depends on cooperation from companies whose business models depend on the very engagement patterns regulators seek to limit.

Harari's warning extends beyond individual platforms. The crisis he describes is systemic. When trust migrates from human institutions to algorithms, the foundation of democratic discourse shifts.

Public narratives become shaped by systems designed for profit, not truth. Citizens consume information curated by processes they do not understand, cannot audit, and have no power to influence. The implications are profound.

Societies built on shared trust in verifiable information now operate in environments where information is filtered through opaque systems optimized for emotional reaction. Harari and Klein identified this as a crisis of liberalism itself—the erosion of the institutional framework that enabled democratic governance. The upcoming European age verification app will test whether regulatory intervention can mitigate algorithmic harm.

Its success could establish precedent for broader measures. Its failure would confirm what many already suspect: that global platforms have accumulated power that individual states cannot effectively constrain. Harari concluded that the world is in a state of hyperexcitation, subjected to stimuli identified through experimentation and deployed for commercial gain.

The psychological experiment continues. Billions remain enrolled. The platforms have the data.

Regulators are beginning to respond. Whether democratic institutions can reassert control over information systems designed to bypass them remains the central question facing liberal societies in the digital age.