I was thinking of some kind of tobacco company parallel here.
this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
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Yep, and some oil company in the 80's.
And getting dragged onto social media because your friends are on 'latest cool app' is like passive smoking.
Or Exxon and climate change. (who uses the same PR people Big Tobacco did to spread their lies)
You'd think the tobacco industry would be researching how to make cigarettes heal you while still being addictive so they could literally create customers that live forever buying cigarettes. What's the point of killing them so they stop buying your product?
Each Cigarette Contains 1 CRISPR dose!
Guess deleting my facebook in 2009 was a good move.
This was years ago, IIRC.
They've always known their shit was fucking with people's heads. They've always known it causes problems. They don't care. They just want their money so they can buy more politicians and make more money.
Everything is about money, except money, which is about power.
Well, it's cool that they studied the effect of their products. But then: why not improve on it instead of shoving it under the rug? Then again, if it's their entire business model and they are not clever enough to improve that one, I guess capitalism is doing its thing again.
But then: why not improve on it instead of shoving it under the rug? Then again, if it's their entire business model and they are not clever enough to improve that one, I guess capitalism is doing its thing again.
You just answered your question. Tech moguls know that 70% of engagements in social media is induced by anger. And engagements is all that matters to make money for these oligarchs.
They can't fix it. Social media, isn't what the brain wants. Social media isn't actually being social. Most of it is talking to the void that doesn't really respond. There's no conversations, no friendships/community, no connections, or experiences. There is, however, ads, bots, misinformation, etc.
Like, I can read about a roller coaster. I can see photos of it. But that doesn't replace riding it. Replace roller coaster with whatever.
The only way they could modify social media to be better for people is to shut it down. It's like alcohol, realistically there's no amount you should consume. And some people can't self manage (alcoholics). That's social media. But they want you addicted, they want you engaged all the time. Because money.
The things that make it harmful to people, is the things that keep people on it and drive ad revenue.
They could try to address it, but they would earn less money.
Because it's a feature, not a bug, right? I left Facebook because it made me not like people, made me angry, sad. All those things made me interact with it more, I had far more negative things to say than positive.
"Yeah it's bad for you, but people can make their own decisions!"