Symptoms
The harms were not unforeseen. They were foreseen, documented, and for years not acted on.
Most of the harms here were flagged — in academic research, intergovernmental bodies, and internal platform documents — years before they became politically visible. The story starts in the 1990s.
Consumerism Consumerism was always with us. The machine made it frictionless, continuous, and personalised. Xenophobia & Violence From Stormfront (1995) to Myanmar (2017) to today. The infrastructure for hate predates social media by a decade. Health Misinformation The feed cannot tell a remedy from a rumour — only what holds attention. From the retracted MMR study to the COVID infodemic. Mental Health The correlation between social media use and adolescent mental health is established. Causality is contested. The Haugen documents show internal knowledge of harm. Body Image An old pressure, newly industrialised — idealised beauty and girls’ self-esteem, and the looksmaxxing-to-bonesmashing pipeline among boys. Get-Rich-Quick & Scams The oldest pitch in the world — fast, easy, certain money — made personal, socially endorsed, and one tap from your bank account. Elections & Democratic Harm Documented influence operations, algorithmic amplification of disinformation, and the ODNI/FBI/CISA joint statement. The Manosphere A worldview that attributes male difficulties primarily to women and feminism, reached one recommended step at a time, on platforms that reward whatever holds attention. Radicalisation Pipelines The same engagement machine sits behind movements that hate each other — Islamist, far-right, and incel. The beliefs differ; the mechanics are identical. Recruited to Harm Police in Europe and the US report that organised online networks use game-like tasks to draw children into harming themselves and others. What We Don't Yet Know Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This page is about the questions that aren't answered yet — and why that matters.
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