Tim Wu making the argument for why social media should be handled like big tobacco:

But changing circumstances have undercut these arguments. For one thing, if the platforms in the 1990s and 2000s were passive carriers of others’ content (albeit filtered by human moderators), they are now active purveyors. The platforms use aggressive tactics to keep users compulsively engaged — algorithmic recommendations, infinite scroll, auto video play and intermittent reinforcement (in which likes, comments and refreshed content are rewarded unpredictably rather than consistently). This goes far beyond merely hosting and moderating third-party content.

The second change is the growing evidence of a correlation between the rise of social media and harm to young people.

Nic Babarskis @thebigbabooski