2024 CSAT — Q13

Locate. This asks for the central idea: find the claim the whole passage exists to support. Every sentence here builds one critique: not all voices are heard equally; capital buys a louder voice; political quality suffers when discourse is about outshining opponents; and social media chase engagement-driving content “regardless of how inflammatory” it is. The thesis is a verdict on what social media are — commercial, engagement-first — not neutral or high-minded.

Test (thesis-vs-detail + scope-fit). The right option must cover the whole critical passage without overreaching. (b) — social media are “not ideal or moral institutions, but the products built by companies to make profits” — captures both the commercial-incentive thread (capital buying voice, profit-driven engagement) and the deflationary tone. It fits the scope exactly.

Eliminate by anatomy. (a) is half right, half wrong — and imports the reader’s own upbeat view: “instant access to information” is a positive spin the critical passage never endorses. (c) gets the direction backwards — the passage says politics suffers, the opposite of “created to strengthen democracies.” (d) over-states the case and goes beyond the passage — “inevitable for well-informed social life” is an upbeat, absolute claim alien to a passage warning about inflammatory, engagement-driven content. The transferable rule: the central idea of a critical passage must carry its critical charge — an option that flatters the subject has mistaken tone and thesis. Key: (b).

“When anonymous private entities with high capital can pay for more space for their opinions, they are effectively buying a louder voice” and “The focus of social media is restricted to the promotion of content that generates more user engagement, regardless of how inflammatory the content may be” — the central idea is that social media are commercial, engagement-driven products, not ideal/moral institutions — exactly (b).

The passage’s argument is uniformly critical: amplification is bought by capital, political discourse degrades into outshining opponents, and social media’s focus is “the promotion of content that generates more user engagement, regardless of how inflammatory.” The thesis: social media are commercial, engagement-maximising products, not ideal or moral institutions.

(b) states exactly that. (a) spins them positively (“instant access”), (c) reverses the passage (strengthen democracies), and (d) makes them indispensable — none matches the critical thesis.

Answer: (b).

The trap set is built on tone: three options frame social media positively or neutrally (“instant access,” “strengthen democracies,” “inevitable for well-informed life”), while the passage is a sustained critique. The central idea of a critical passage must keep its critical charge. Only (b) — social media as profit-driven, non-ideal products — does. Reading the author’s stance, not just the topic, is the move.