  Worry over polarization has grown alongside the digital information
consumption revolution. Where most scientific work considered user-generated
and user-disseminated (i.e.,~Web 2.0) content as the culprit, the potential of
purely increased access to information (or Web 1.0) has been largely
overlooked. Here, we suggest that the shift to Web 1.0 alone could include a
powerful mechanism of belief extremization. We study an empirically calibrated
persuasive argument model with confirmation bias. We compare an offline setting
-- in which a limited number of arguments is broadcast by traditional media --
with an online setting -- in which the agent can choose to watch contents
within a very wide set of possibilities. In both cases, we assume that positive
and negative arguments are balanced. The simulations show that the online
setting leads to significantly more extreme opinions and amplifies initial
prejudice.
