Opinion | It’s not complicated: it's time to regulate and hold social media accountable | Richard Ransom - WATN - Local 24

“Instagram's toxicity to girls is just the beginning,” said Local 24 News anchor Richard Ransom in his Ransom Note segment.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In Wednesday’s Ransom Note: we need to regulate social media.

The worst offender is Facebook, which owns Instagram. Apparently it gets to operate under its own set of rules. The Wall Street Journal found from Facebook's own internal documents that for three years it knew Instagram causes teenage girls in particular to have suicidal thoughts, not to mention anxiety and depression, yet chose to do nothing. After all, it wouldn't want to jeopardize the $100 billion a year in revenue Instagram pulls in or alienate the 22 million American teens who log-on each day or the 40% of users under the age of 22.

But Instagram's toxicity to girls is just the beginning. Facebook has spread more misinformation about COVID-19 than perhaps any other site. It's contributed directly to Q-Anon and other conspiracy theories which helped lead to the insurrection. Congress: stop giving Facebook a pass! It's past time to regulate social media and hold it accountable.

“Our approach has had unhealthy side effects.” Facebook made a heralded change to its algorithm, designed to make the platform a better place for users. It had the opposite impact, internal company documents show. https://t.co/vdaRSMGoql

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ)


Read Full Story: https://www.localmemphis.com/article/opinion/opinion-its-not-complicated-its-time-to-regulate-and-hold-social-media-accountable-richard-ransom/522-724e2426-9c08-42e1-a363-f7f26c50d446

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