Developing an effective response to this crisis of extremism requires an understanding that the modern Internet is an inherently radicalizing mechanism, and that no amount of moderation can effectively halt the sweeping polarization of Gen Z. “The one single trend that is easily identifiable across these young political spaces is that, over time, no one moves back toward the center,” Citarella said. “They all move out toward the extremities.” In this light, he believes that scrubbing radical content from the Internet is throwing away the single best opportunity to reach vulnerable teen-agers. “You have to look for opportunities to move these people in one direction or another,” he said, “but instead we’re ceding the Internet as space to send them toward a different kind of politics.”