We wouldn’t have this problem if the tech companies can “self regulate” (lol). But us engineers just can’t help ourselves but find even more effective and efficient ways to harvest eyeballs and stoke hate.

And yes, I mean engineers. Just a few “inventions” off the top of my head that got us here:

- infinite scroll - Facebook’s shadow profiles - recommendation algorithms

Don’t pretend it’s not engineers that came up with these.

The issue is that lower profits are attached to self regulation, as is community backlash. Large tech companies rarely have a moral compass and their decisions are attached to return on investment to their financiers.

Prisoners delima...