MY ONE-MAN crusade against social media is well known. From the killer dating app of the early 2000s, to the app killer of careers, reputations and relationships today, the social media debate has begun to draw parallels with the prohibition movement of 1920s America. Back then, the US government tried to prevent the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages across the country, not because alcohol was a new and dangerous substance dragging down society, but because an intense religious revivalist movement that sought perfection in man had been ushered in by the church. This is quite similar to what is happening now as the US Congress has suddenly realised the grave dangers posed by an unregulated and unaccountable social media industry, and is trying to claw its way back from the brink. Out of this battle, one woman, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, has emerged as the unlikely heroine in this fight to rein in Mr Zuckerberg’s deadly toy. Ms Haugen has testified before Congress about how Facebook deliberately peddles a dangerous product to vulnerable groups such as the young, poor and undereducated, and argues that the social media giant should be subject to the same level of government oversight as alcohol, drugs and tobacco.
Haugen’s motivation for taking on a near trillion-dollar tech giant and becoming the most famous whistle-blower of 2021 arose from a personal quest to “do what is right to save the lives of millions of people”....
President Donald Trump made false claims about NATO, NASA, foreign policy, taxes, immigration and other subjects in a Fox Business interview that aired Wednesday morning. Here is a fact check of s...