EU Commission: addictive design Instagram and Facebook in breach of the DSA

The European parliament voted against letting Facebook scan private messages. It passed anyway because for some reason it's set up very undemocratically. A majority vote against it wasn't enough to block it.

The people who wanted the law were the heads of every EU state, so they could pass it with or without the EU - that's probably why it's set up like that - same reason the UN is quite powerless.

> Ragebait = fanning flames through misinformation or disinformation. Why do you immediately jump to the conclusion that anything inciting rage is true? I constantly get fed content on Instagram and YouTube with outright lies about my country (verifiable lies, not something I judged as lies) which are intended to cause rage and engagement. That's ragebait.

Thank you! That's the first time I heard a sensible explanation of the word that's being used so much. That's indeed something different and malevolent.

> When it gets to a device that you are carrying with you 100% of the time it's a whole other level and degree of an issue.

But if social media was non-existent, then people would carry these devices with them for traditional broadcasts.

Let me make a comparison that I think is very on-topic: Alcohol is a traditional drug, less addictive and less harmful than many of the worst drugs. But more addictive and more harmful than many other drugs. Wouldn't it be strange if governments, regulators and rulers only focused on the other drugs and said nothing about alcohol? Would I be a Russian, Chinese or Iranian spy or a jew (as another poster just insinuated) if I said "Hey, what about alcohol?".

Traditional mass media regulation vs Internet regulation is not only an EU issue. What I said about the EU regulators could just as much be said about any other government doing the same. I don't think it's unjustified conspiratorial thinking to look at how rulers want to control speech and the flow of information for their own benefit. It's expected. If screen addiction was what they truly wanted to fight, then the EU Commission would also act against traditional broadcasts in the same way they act against social media. Just like rulers and regulators have acted in all kinds of ways against alcohol, including prohibition and other extreme measures.

this is the wrong approach. they should enforce a choice between addictive and "ethical" algorithms (or even better allow third party feeds), make them transparent with what kind of data they use to personalize and strictly ban any kind of political bias.

things like bluesky fyp should always stay legal and not in a gray area. even if someone comes up with a design thats more addictive than hard drugs people should have the option (but never be forced) to use it. if this is about kids then use california style on device age signals set by parents.

i just dont think addiction by itself is something we should be fighting. yes i believe in legalizing all drugs how could you tell.

I agree with you, for a an adult, the choice should be given and not enforced, it's same with smoking or alcohol consumptions. Both are terrible for your health on the long term, but the side effects are clear and open and people can make an educated decision.

Governments see reduction in tax income and GDP and repeal taxes. In UK: Signal "mansion" tax on properties valued above X price to collect recurring Y pounds total tax. Market adjusts valuations based on probability of tax. Number of houses still worth at least X now diminishes. Now cannot collect recurring Y pounds. "Mansion" tax delayed.

You have this complex system that has reached some sort of relative equilibrium based on say a set S of ten sorts of tax rates, along with a set F of factors (size millions), with the government's tax revenue R being one of those outputs. Then some guy in the government called G signals to the government and public that he can increase R by X by fiddling with a member of S, or maybe adding a member to S (of size say ten).

Is G stupid, or does he just lean towards retaining the public's affection, his relatively low salary, potential under the table payments and whatever networking opportunities his job provides? I lean towards the latter.