Can Meta Be Stopped Before It Hooks Our Kids?

Meta faces billion-dollar lawsuits over youth addiction, but is the social media giant already too powerful for governments to control?

From algorithms and endless scrolling to teen mental health, Mike Wixson and Jim Lang ask whether regulation can actually rein Meta in.

In this episode, we break down:
• Why Facebook and Instagram algorithms are accused of encouraging addictive social media habits among children and teenagers
• The concerns surrounding teen mental health, body image, sleep disruption and social media addiction
• Why billion-dollar lawsuits may barely dent a company as powerful and valuable as Meta
• How algorithms, autoplay, reels and endless scrolling are designed to keep users engaged
• Whether governments have become too dependent on Facebook and Instagram to seriously regulate them
• Canada’s proposed social media regulations and why government action struggles to keep pace with technology
• The growing debate over protecting children online while governments court major technology investment
• How social media has changed childhood friendships, dating, school life and the fear of being publicly embarrassed online
• Why political parties, influencers, sports teams and businesses continue using the very platforms being criticized
• Whether meaningful regulation, rather than lawsuits, is the only realistic way to challenge Meta’s power

Hosts: Mike Wixson, Jim Lang

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:08 Social media addiction and teen mental health
04:10 Is Meta becoming too powerful to punish?
07:19 Governments depend on the platforms they regulate
10:41 Canada’s response to social media harms
13:07 Why regulation struggles to keep up with technology
15:55 Can lawsuits actually change Meta?
18:13 Tech investment versus protecting Canadian kids
21:02 Politics, influencers and social media hypocrisy
23:49 How social media is changing childhood
26:29 Algorithms, FOMO and the attention game
29:36 Why online behaviour brings out the worst in people
31:05 How Meta keeps users coming back
32:59 Is Meta simply too big to scare?

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Pillars: Health

#Meta #SocialMedia #MentalHealth #OnlineSafety #Facebook