The Latest on Regulating Social Media

[It’s an idea whose time has come.] I’m quite down on the addictive design social media companies use, including both algorithmic newsfeeds and endless scroll. As such, I was pleased to see the recent multi-billion dollar settlement between Facebook and nearly all of America. The settlement will effectively force Meta to make major product changes for all U.S. teen users. The company agreed to interrupt endless scrolling and to impose two-hour daily time limits on Instagram and Facebook. This is some good progress in regulating these products and loosening their hold over users. Unfortunately, it’s limited to underage users, and adults need protection against this harmful design as well. When I first expressed my distaste for the way social media companies use algorithmic feeds to capture attention, I wrote: Algorithmic newsfeeds can’t be uninvented, and it seems unlikely they’ll be regulated out of existence. That’s likely still true, but there’s additional welcome news out of…

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