It goes against the unwritten rules of the columnists’ guild to admit that there are some complex problems that defy simple solutions. But dealing with the toxic exhausts from Facebook’s social networks counts as one. With 2.8bn users, accounting for about 60 per cent of the world’s internet-connected population, the company has arguably become too big to run, let alone regulate. Yet a mass of messy, half-measures can still help push social media in a better direction.
The damning testimony to the US Senate this week of Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager, provided further evidence that the company is damaging society and society needs to respond. “I believe Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy,” she told the hearing.
In spite of Facebook’s attempts to trash her credibility, Haugen made a powerful case. A computer scientist by training, she has worked at Facebook, Google, Pinterest and Yelp since 2006, and had access to reams of internal Facebook research, which she leaked to the Wall Street Journal.