Kelly Stonelake, a former Meta executive turned whistleblower, talks to Nabodita Ganguly about how Big Tech has engineered systems that make social-media platforms addictive and why they should take more accountability
For years, social-media companies have hidden behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the US, claiming immunity for whatever users post on their platforms. 'We don’t create the content,' they argue, 'we just host it’. A Bill was introduced this year in the US Senate, proposing to sunset Section 230.
This current bellwether case at trial in Los Angeles is important because the legal strategy does not focus on any single piece of harmful content; they target the harmful product design itself. For once, Big Tech can’t claim Section 230 immunity.
Whether or not a self-harm video gets uploaded, these companies have engineered systems that actively deliver it to vulnerable kids because they know what keeps them hooked. These platforms connect children with adults selling counterfeit fentanyl, rewarding them for accepting friend requests from unknown adults and then showing their location to these predators on a map. They fail to address sextortion schemes that have driven teens to suicide. They amplify dangerous viral challenges.
Social-media apps use an array of design features—from infinite scroll feeds to video autoplay—to create a habit-forming experience. One unsealed internal document even shows an Instagram employee calling the app a 'drug’,...
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