Post #1853409

2026-04-03 19:16 UTC

In my view social media is probably not the problem, but the algorithms they use that are designed to be addictive and manipulative. I saw an article once arguing that the algorithms should be regulated in a similar way to medicine. Give some base ingredients they can use freely (e.g. sort by newest first), then require any others to run studies to prove they are not harmful. There would be an expert board that approves or declines the new algorithm in the same way medicines are approved today (the important bit being that they are experts, not politicians making the decision).

Replies (2)

@Mondez@lemdro.id 2026-04-04 08:57

I wish I saw this kind of insightful point of view more often in the discourse over social media. It's stopped being about being social once algorithmic content curation became the norm to drive engagement and advertising money which is the real evil.

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@yardratianSoma@lemmy.ca 2026-04-04 20:21

excellent take, I never thought of regulation on something digital like an algorithm (concerning social media) to be, I guess, possible when some government officials barely understand what an IP address is. But that's the thing, where's the motivation for this board of experts to exist coming from? There is already plenty of empirical evidence to support the claims of the harms of social media, but in spite of this, change is glacial. That is why I just generalize and say that social media is the problem, because most people won't care to hear anything deeper. They are already addicted, and don't care for a cure.

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