Staff Reports
In what might sound like a dystopian sci-fi movie plot, a former Meta executive has thrown the curtains open on the social media giant’s practices. Brian Boland, who honed his skills at Facebook for over a decade, recently shared eyebrow-raising insights during his testimony in the Bellweather social media addiction trial. According to him, the company, more familiar to everyday folks as Facebook, seemed to have a peculiar way of handling user safety—by making it someone else’s problem. Priority numero uno? Engagement! Nothing like holding engagement on a pedestal while the safety of users takes a backseat, right?
Boland made it clear that seeking perpetual growth wasn’t just accidental—it was programmed into Meta’s DNA. Algorithms don’t bat an eye over what’s right or wrong. They are relentless, the ex-executive lamented, relentlessly driven toward their goals without the minor inconvenience of ethics getting in their way. The company is quick to counter these claims. They’ve dismissed the allegations with confidence, emphasizing their supposed long-standing commitment to nurturing young minds and protecting them—an assertion sure to make cynics chuckle.
On the global stage, many countries are busy tightening the leash on social media use among the young crowd. Meanwhile, as usual, the U.S. lags behind, waddling in when everyone else is knee-deep. The trial goes on, with people eager to see how this case could become the opening salvo, sparking a chain of new cases, thousands indeed, all lined up and sleeked down in California and federal courts like a set of dominos waiting for that first, fatal nudge.
Some surmise this could mirror the tobacco settlements saga from the ’80s, a formidable tsunami of lawsuits that might end in companies coughing up wads of cash. The social media companies are not unlike the cool kids who pass notes in class but leave grades aside—metaphorically speaking, of course. Despite having all the tools and controls to supposedly mitigate the risk of addiction, they still figure out any loophole kids would leap through, like master acrobats.
Driven by profit margins, these corporations carry on, even if their top honchos don’t allegedly let their brood swim in these perilous digital waters. If that doesn’t holler a loud message about the times we live in, who knows what will? Perhaps if the threat of financial loss and debilitating lawsuits doesn’t kick them into high gear, one wonders, what will it take? The irony of their stock climbing might seem more like a slap in the face, but such is the business of social media giants. The aftermath awaits as a lesson in the making—or not.
