The Guardian - Meta and Mark Zuckerberg must not be allowed to shape the next era of humanity
CJL Director Dr. Courtney Radsch highlights Big Tech’s celebrations for AI, and how it’s time to demand accountability for the harms tech has caused before they wreak further havoc.
When Facebook first launched as a college-based social network 20 years ago this week, there was little indication that it would become what it is today. The company, now rebranded as Meta, controls the critical infrastructure of our information and communications systems and access to the public sphere, and is central to the digital economy.
Who would have predicted that a company that started as a way to connect college students would be blamed for deteriorating mental health, genocidal violence and the rise of anti-democratic populism around the world?
Yet here we are.
Over the past decade, the company’s social media and messaging channels have been linked to deterioration in self-esteem and mental health, including increases in anxiety, depression and addiction. They have been shown to foster feelings of envy and jealousy, contribute to eating disorders and body image issues, impinge on sleep and enable cyberbullying.
The company’s platforms have been used to fuel the spread of terrorism and violent extremism, mass violence and online harassment. Meta’s core products – Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp – enable human trafficking, drug trafficking and the illegal wildlife trade, along with the proliferation of child sexual abuse material and child exploitation. People use Meta’s social media and messaging platforms to spread propaganda, disinformation and information warfare, undermining the integrity of our information ecosystems and elections around the world.
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