Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm • Hacker News Board

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#21

Post by behnamoh » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:13 PM UTC

notRobot wrote: post #18

justinclift wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tobacco then? Pointing those out because in my current country (Australia), laws are being gradually introduced to - eventually - eliminate tobacco consumption. eg plain paper packaging mandate, banning of smoking in more and more places, and potentially soon there will be banning of tobacco sales to people born before a point in time year (2005 maybe?) so they're never allowed to smoke

> potentially soon there will be banning of tobacco sales to people born before a point in time year (2005 maybe?) so they're never allowed to smoke Minor typo: the ban will be for people born after a particular year, not before.

easier to enforce such laws in a low populated country such as Australia than in places like the US.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#22

Post by tjpnz » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:13 PM UTC

pelagicAustral wrote: post #17

tjpnz wrote: post #16

I hope TikTok will follow.

I had zero exposure to TikTok until about 60 days or so. I started seeing a lot of content from TikTok on my regular feeds, like YouTube and a few other media sites. I don't have any social media accounts other than this one and YouTube, so it wasnt hard to stay away from it all, but now even on my news channels I see 'everything' TikTok content seeping in, and I have to say, I really hope the content I'm seeing is a…

You probably started seeing it because of the Johnny Depp civil suit. Most of the content in my feeds claiming to cover it seemed to be more about TikTok, which was frustrating as someone unfamiliar with the case.

The mental health glorification is particularly insidious and there's already been some studies on the harm done to people who self diagnosis on the platform. Even if you avoid all the content it recommends you on the subject it still messes with your dopamine receptors.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#23

Post by DiabloD3 » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:21 PM UTC

tejohnso wrote: post #20

Have packaged food and fast food manufacturers been sued for deliberately making their products addictive, knowing full well that the addictive substances cause physical and mental harm?

No, not that I'm aware of, but I'm also surprised they haven't: they'd just need to follow the model proven to work by the case against Big Tobacco. Any business model that depends on exploiting their customers is inherently illegal and following the established case law to this conclusion is the only sane outcome.

The only reason we haven't is that Big Sugar (or whatever it ends up being known as when they write the history books) has more money than Big Tobacco and has been laying out their defenses against it.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#24

Post by micromacrofoot » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:22 PM UTC

tejohnso wrote: post #20

Have packaged food and fast food manufacturers been sued for deliberately making their products addictive, knowing full well that the addictive substances cause physical and mental harm?

Multiple people have tried, though I don’t think any have been successful.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#25

Post by SnowHill9902 » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:23 PM UTC

syrgian wrote: post #9

dragonsky wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven’t seen anybody successfully sue a alcohol company for being addicted to booze.

It is the establishment you would sue. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2021/08/texas-man-wins-5-5...

That was a default judgement so even if not immediately dismissed by the court it wasn’t really put to test.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#26

Post by micromacrofoot » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:24 PM UTC

xvector wrote: post #2

This is lame. Is an addictive algorithm an illegal substance of some sort? Is personal responsibility not a thing people care about anymore?

How far does personal responsibility go? what if there are 100 psychologists working to undermine your self control? do you stand a chance?

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#27

Post by ninkendo » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:39 PM UTC

micromacrofoot wrote: post #24

tejohnso wrote: post #20

Have packaged food and fast food manufacturers been sued for deliberately making their products addictive, knowing full well that the addictive substances cause physical and mental harm?

Multiple people have tried, though I don’t think any have been successful.

Cigarette companies certainly have, and successfully. Social media is starting to become as easy of a political target as cigarettes once were, so IMO there’s reason to be hopeful.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#28

Post by whiplash451 » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:39 PM UTC

DiabloD3 wrote: post #23

tejohnso wrote: post #20

Have packaged food and fast food manufacturers been sued for deliberately making their products addictive, knowing full well that the addictive substances cause physical and mental harm?

No, not that I'm aware of, but I'm also surprised they haven't: they'd just need to follow the model proven to work by the case against Big Tobacco. Any business model that depends on exploiting their customers is inherently illegal and following the established case law to this conclusion is the only sane outcome. The only reason we haven't is that Big Sugar (or whatever it ends up being known as when they write the…

This is a slippery slope, though, because then any provider of food with sugar in it would be a potential target.

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#29

Post by mensetmanusman » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:42 PM UTC

micromacrofoot wrote: post #26

xvector wrote: post #2

This is lame. Is an addictive algorithm an illegal substance of some sort? Is personal responsibility not a thing people care about anymore?

How far does personal responsibility go? what if there are 100 psychologists working to undermine your self control? do you stand a chance?

This is an interesting point, especially considering that people are born with various levels of self-control.

People with little to no self-control stand no chance, but there are many people I’m sure that would survive psychologists, especially knowing that they work in a field where almost nothing is reproducible :)

Re: Meta sued for social media addiction caused by its algorithm

#30

Post by oblio » Fri, Jun 10, 2022, 12:43 PM UTC

whiplash451 wrote: post #28

DiabloD3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not that I'm aware of, but I'm also surprised they haven't: they'd just need to follow the model proven to work by the case against Big Tobacco. Any business model that depends on exploiting their customers is inherently illegal and following the established case law to this conclusion is the only sane outcome. The only reason we haven't is that Big Sugar (or whatever it ends up being known as when they write the…

This is a slippery slope, though, because then any provider of food with sugar in it would be a potential target.

Well, maybe they should, unless their food is clearly labeled as a dessert, and if their servings also have clear and obvious markings of how much of the daily intake is covered by them.

More than that, food for which the average servings exceed the daily needs of the average person should have danger warnings. Maybe not that far off from what cigarettes show as health damage caused by them.

Edit: Why is this downvoted? Come on, I want some arguments. The same system has worked for tobacco, and we know food with excess sugar is as bad if not worse. Why shouldn't we do the same thing?