WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE MAN SHAPES GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA? 💎

I watched a ColdFusion video this morning about Meta’s growing legal problems. The numbers are completely absurd. Around 7,000 lawsuits. Another 100,000 arbitration proceedings. Billions have already been paid in fines and settlements by the company. But the money isn’t what caught my attention. Something more interesting is happening.

THE DESIGN ITSELF IS BEING PUT ON TRIAL.

For years we’ve argued about what people post on social media. Misinformation. Hate speech. Political extremism. Teen mental health. Moderation. Free speech. And underneath all that sits a machine whose job is remarkably simple:

KEEP THE USER ENGAGED.

The strange thing is that is exactly what drove me away.

I joined Meta's social networks to stay connected with friends. But over time, I could barely find them. The feed was filled with everything except the people I had come there to see. What I increasingly felt was not connection. It was isolation.

THE LONGER WE STAY, THE MORE ADVERTISING META CAN SELL.

And engagement algorithms discovered something rather inconvenient about human beings. Anger works. Fear works. Division works. Outrage works extremely well.

According to the video, Meta itself investigated whether maximising engagement was increasing political division. It found that it was. Possible changes were proposed, including exposing people to a wider range of viewpoints. But reducing division also reduced engagement.

AND GROWTH MATTERED.

That is the part I find difficult to get past. If a company makes more money when I remain angry, frightened, comparing myself with others and unable to stop scrolling, then my well-being and its business model are pulling in opposite directions.

Now, some of the lawsuits are going after the machinery itself: like counts, infinite scrolling, autoplay and recommendation algorithms. Not merely what is inside the cage.

BUT THE CAGE ITSELF!

Perhaps that is where this conversation should have been all along. Social media does not necessarily need to disappear. But maybe we need social spaces whose survival does not depend upon keeping human beings agitated enough to remain there.

That seems a rather more useful place to begin.

Video: Meta’s Legal Troubles Are Worse than You Think — ColdFusion
https://youtu.be/IBZ7TqauY_4?si=HgsxMCRTAeM71ao5

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