The whistleblower on Facebook, Frances Haugen, reminds me of the denunciation of the practices of tobacco companies 20 years ago.
The revelations of this former employee of the social network are certainly as striking as the denunciation of the wrongdoing of the tobacco industry in 2004 by Jeffrey Wigan, an employee of a tobacco company, which had led to prosecutions of several billion dollars.
The financial and legal consequences for Facebook will undoubtedly not be as costly, but the parallel remains inescapable and must be recognized in the public arena.
The big unknown now is the reaction of lawmakers, in the United States and elsewhere.
To sum up: Facebook would know for a fact that its products can harm health (here mental health) and create addiction.
It is therefore legitimate now to say that our world (in any case, the so-called developed countries capable of producing public policies, in other words the democratic process) is at a crossroads in the unbridled (and very often unbridled) digital revolution. ), at the beginning of the XXIe century.
As Frances Haugen said on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 before a US Senate Subcommittee on Consumer and Trade Protection, there comes a time when human innovation and creativity must be considered and channeled. .
Almost 20 years after the creation of Facebook, dated February 2004, the time has come for our companies to take a step back and look at this new digital technological tool, like what happened with the automobile , even printing or television.
Public authorities must take very seriously the repercussions, as deep as they are insidious, of social media, both on the person and at the micro level, but also at the macro level, that is, on the community and democratic life.
Thank you, Frances Haugen, for bringing us into the world of social media 2.0. At least hopefully.
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