Over the last couple of years, scandal after scandal regarding the blatant disregard for mental health issues by social media platforms like Facebook have been brought to the public’s attention. The 2020 Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, where several industry experts give insights into how social media platforms are exploiting users by manipulating their mental health for their own profits, brought great attention to these issues, but over time these effects subsided. This week, again, Facebook whistleblower Francis Haugen came out and stirred the pot by testifying before Congress the dangers of Facebook for children, and how the company put profits before the safety of users. Finally, it seems that governments are listening to society’s cries for help, but will it be enough to enforce stricter regulations?
It is not “news” that social media heavily manipulates its users to try and keep them on the app as long as possible, improving their own profits. For years it has been publicly known that platforms like Facebook hire people who’s main aim is to make the website as addictive as possible, without regard for the implications these might have on the mental health of users. As a result, increased anxiety, depression, and isolation are associated with excessive social media usage. Multiple employees have gone public to try and gain attention for this issue; some successfully, some to no avail. Recently, it was discovered that Facebook tried to cover up an internal report which researched how their products affects users. The report finds that 32% of young girls who felt bad about their body felt worse when they went to Instagram. Furthermore, the report concludes that Instagram negatively affects mental health in both young boys and young girls. With an app so commonly used among children, and (young) adults it is staggering how legislators are not cracking down on this extremely damaging industry. After all, (mental) health should be a main priority for governments.
This latest scandal has again put the power of social media in the media’s eye. Finally, legislators in the U.S. have put forward new, and expanding regulations that could have a bit of an impact on the negative effects of social media, such an expansion of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act which makes it illegal for platforms to collect data from under 13-year olds without consent of their parents. However, I am not very optimistic as other initiatives have often failed to become accepted into regulation, or fail to really serve the purpose of the legislation. Furthermore, the power of the platforms is enormous, and these are heavily involved in the funding of political parties, which poses another interesting question: should these gigantic (tech) corporations be allowed to be this involved in politics? However, that is a topic for a different blog.
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/e9e25ff3-639a-4cc1-bb81-dedf24d956e3 https://www.ft.com/content/febd8adc-8729-4e50-889d-f22a109fd44e
