A smartphone with Meta logo is seen in front of displayed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]
Meta's recent controversies, especially with respect to Instagram and Facebook, have brought to light what many have long suspected: both Facebook and Instagram may not only create harm but actually have been purposefully engineered to inflict harm. The publication of internal Meta documents and the testimony of former Meta employees indicates that the company was aware of the dangers its platforms pose to the mental health of young users for some time, and has opted to keep this knowledge from being made public. Documents show that Meta actively chose not to publish research indicating that, when young people reduce their use of social media, they experience less anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
The evidence shows that Meta also protects traffickers from prosecution by permitting them to use their platforms to exploit victims. Employees have reported that the companies responsible for supporting both organisations have provided protection for the companies in order to maintain a presence on those platforms after numerous complaints had been submitted. Banning accounts linked to the exploitation and trafficking of persons was done under such high standards that users could violate the standards on numerous occasions prior to being subject to any action by Meta.
Despite this evidence, Mark Zuckerberg continues to publicly state that Meta is committed to protecting the welfare of young people. It is difficult for me to believe this because the company culture appears to promote the use of these platforms as "digital drugs", purposefully created to generate an addictive effect and they intentionally neglect the negative effects or harm caused.
Is this yet another example of Big Tech profiting at the expense of other people's lives? Or perhaps something worse, where hidden entities protect these corporations from accountability?
References :
https://time.com/7336204/meta-lawsuit-files-child-safety/
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.401490/gov.uscourts.cand.401490.2480.0.pdf
https://abcnews.go.com/ABCNews/live-updates/live-updates-Facebook/?id=80401245