Meta finally goes to court over the 'addiction' feature
Turns out Facebook and Instagram might have been built to keep kids glued to screens on purpose.
It feels like we’ve known forever that social media is a giant Skinner box, but now four states are actually dragging Meta into court to prove it. The argument is simple: these apps aren't just addictive by accident, they were engineered specifically to hook children.
The lawsuit claims Meta knew exactly what it was doing while downplaying the mental health dumpster fire it created. They built the tools to keep eyes on screens, then hid the data that showed how much damage was being done to younger users.
Companies are usually pretty good at claiming their products are neutral, but arguing that a platform is accidentally addictive is a tough sell when you’re selling targeted ads every millisecond.
It’s nice to see someone finally treating 'scrolling until you hate yourself' like the business strategy it actually is.
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