Social media sites tearing society apart, says former Facebook exec
12 Dec 2017
A former senior Facebook executive has ripped into the social network he once helped create, saying it is ''ripping society apart''.
Chamath Palihapitiya, who joined Facebook in 2007 and became its vice president for user growth – directly involved in increasing the number of users – now says he feels ''tremendous guilt'' for the influence Facebook has had and its ability to manipulate users.
He recommends that people take a break from using social media, saying that he doesn't allow his three children to use this "sh*t".
The venture capitalist, who has banned his own three young children from the site, took particular aim at the ways people communicate via social media, including hearts, likes, and the thumbs-up.
Palihapitiya believes this has the power to boost the spread of misinformation and allow people with nefarious intentions to manipulate users.
He did not only blame Facebook but talked about the entire social media ecosystem and how it is destroying the society. "I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works," the Verge cites Palihapitiya as telling students at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Examples from India featured as Palihapitiya talked about two cases in Jharkhand where a fake WhatsApp message led to the killing of people. In the first incident, four people were killed by a mob after a fake WhatsApp message alleged them to child lifters. In the second incidents, three villagers travelling with their grandmother were brutally lynched by the mob because of a similar hoax message.
Palihapitiya says social media addiction and its dark effects are not limited to any particular country and that it is rather a global problem, leading to a ''lack of civil discourse, misinformation and mistruth".
He said that he tries to use the Facebook as little as he can and has also instructed his kids to stay away from this "sh*t."
During his talk, Palihapitiya called out not only Facebook, but Silicon Valley's entire system of funding.
He claimed money pumped into the region would be better spent addressing problems like climate change and disease.
''The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we've created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth.
''And it's not an American problem - this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem,'' he said.
This is not the first time that prominent figure at Facebook has spoken out about the social network.
In October Justin Rosenstein, who developed the iconic 'Like' feature for the social media site, revealed that just a decade later, he has cut himself off from the allure of notifications and other online distractions.
Rosenstein says he has banned all apps on his phone, including Facebook, because he doesn't trust himself not to get addicted to them.
What started as a Silicon Valley success story could end in a future where people are permanently distracted by devices from the world around them, he argues.
