Facebook Isn’t Big Tobacco; It’s More Like Chernobyl
Like nuclear energy, social media generates power, but its use also requires strict guardrails.
“Facebook has taken Big Tobacco’s playbook.”— Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), September 30, 2021.
“A part of me feels like I’m interviewing the head of a tobacco company right now.” — CNN’s Brian Stelter to Facebook VP Nick Clegg, October 3, 2021.
“Facebook is the Big Tobacco of our generation.”— The Real Facebook Oversight Board, last week.
It’s understandable why politicians, journalists and advocates have started referring to Facebook, ahem, Meta, as a tobacco company. Not just because the company is trying the Philip Morris, I mean Altria, trick of renaming itself to shed its bad reputation. One of the things that Facebook shares with tobacco companies is that its product is toxic and addictive to many of its users, and the company’s leaders have tried to hide those facts.
But the metaphor is inadequate, and if we stick with it, we’ll end up with shallow answers to the deep problem presented by Facebook/Meta. For Facebook isn’t just a form of social entertainment like smoking. It’s much more like an energy company. And not just any energy. Far better to think of it like a nuclear energy…
