Many in the pro-democracy camp still scratch their head, wondering why the worst ideas keep winning. But this isn't even about losing a debate, it's losing a maths problem you didn’t know you were being graded on. This session outlines the solution.

In theory it’s simple. Platforms are built to give advertisers the cheapest possible engagement with the people who are most likely to buy their stuff. For selling products, it works. But for social and political ideas, the cheapest engagement is the polarising, echo chamber engagement that’s got us into this mess. The feedback loop pushes NGOs and politics to the extremes to win funding and support, or risk stagnating if they stay in the middle.

This session reframes impact as an engagement cost curve. Cheap engagement is your base. Expensive engagement is the crowd that will never come with you. The only place impact happens is in the medium-cost per result range: people close enough to lean in but not already sold.