this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
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Microsite Highlighting Evidence from the Landmark Social Media Addiction Trials.

New documents show the tactics Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok execs used to disrupt learning, prey on minors, and co-opt the PTA to control the narrative with parents

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[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 158 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

⢀⣠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣤⣶⣶ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⣀⣀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡏⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠈⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠛⠉⠁⠀⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠿⠿⠿⠻⠿⠿⠟⠿⠛⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠀⠀⢰⣹⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣭⣷⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠈⠉⠀⠀⠤⠄⠀⠀⠀⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢾⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⡠⠤⢄⠀⠀⠀⠠⣿⣿⣷⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢄⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠁⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿

[–] yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Did you copy it from the Internet, or did you do it yourself?

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 117 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I am nothing but a peddler of stolen ASCII art and memes I'm afraid.

[–] cravl@slrpnk.net 53 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Meme smarter, not harder. 🤌

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 week ago

Preach, sibling.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This gave me a sudden flashback to the days when I had a program on VAX VMS that would spit out ASCII art to a chat console from a collection of dozens.

This was also huge on the old WWW III and other BBS Systems over various networks like FIDO. What a time.

[–] reddfugee@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maaan, I read The Cuckoo’s Egg by Cliff Stoll recently and was more than a little jealous of what y’all got to experience. Sounds like it was a blast : )

[–] timwa@lemmy.snowgoons.ro 2 points 1 week ago

Ah damn, I loved that book when I was a kid. I can probably blame it, at least in part, for my career...

(I was a massive nerd and a FidoNet sysop back in the 80s & 90s, and got my first VMS and Unix experience hopping onto academic networks over dialup and X.25 gateways using, err, "unconventially obtained" credentials... This experience helped me convince my interviewer at Imperial College to overlook my less than stellar academic record to admit me to their Computing peogramme.

That book - and the movie WarGames - were definitely inspiring, if not life-changing.)

[–] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

Reminded me of dialing in to BBSs to play LORD. I had a nice collection of ANSI and ASCII art. I thought I was hot shit with my i486 that had two hard drives, 100MB & 200MB. Look out world!

[–] ozoned@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Connoisseur and collector of fine ASCII art you mean. An online archaeologist if you will. :-)

[–] yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

That's alao good. ASCII art is a treasure that must be preserved.

[–] ZephyrXero@lemmy.world 61 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The two options always seem to be:

  • Option 1: Do the thing that expands the hyper-surveillance police state.

  • Option 2: Do nothing and wait for the problem to get worse, until you're compelling to accept Option 1.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Which is why we need to replace the people deciding what the options are.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This is why I hate all the superhero movies of the past 20 years. Their ubiquity has made people subconsciously believe someone else out there with super powers will come to save the day, so it's okay to continue sitting back helplessly and waiting.

[–] NChiwana76@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

I think that’s why comic writers started going to stories with flawed non super powered heroes.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I mean.....it worked in WWII.

See, there was this guy named Hitler, who wanted to take over the world, and kill the Jews.

Then two jewish teens from Cleveland created Superman.

So Superman goes off, fights the nazis, and was on his way to Hitler's house, to give him a lecture about why killing is bad, but Hitler heard Superman was coming. So he killed himself before Superman got there.

True story.

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

My only knowledge of WWII comes from Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, Schindler's List, Conspiracy, Enemy at the Gates, Midway, Memphis Belle, Das Boot, Valkyrie, and Band of Brothers. In NONE of those historical accounts is this story told. It's probably covered in that Inglourioueaus Basteards documentary, which I still have yet to see.

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 week ago

Yah, their fallacy is false dichotomy.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It’s the same model as religion and cigarettes: Get ‘em hooked young and you have a customer for as long as they live.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This explains so much! So THAT'S why I masturbate! I was addicted as a teenager, and I guess I'm going to be addicted for life.

[–] Cryxtalix@programming.dev 6 points 1 week ago

The trick is convincing people that a literal body function is shameful and some kind of sin.

[–] user@startrek.website 1 points 1 week ago

And coffee strategy in Japan

[–] SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

Its was also Epsteins priority for his clients.

[–] Piege@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

Litterally just reading about the reading crisis and how we don't know why it is so bad...

Maybe there's a link between the two.

[–] amotio@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In other news: water is wet.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

No shit, Sherlock.

This is why I am glad that social media is slowly becoming age gated in other countries.

[–] SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

This is not a reason to pass Kosa, KOSA does not address these problems. These companies need dismantled.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Unfortunately, they've been so successful, we won't be able to get our kids to read this report.

[–] insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

And people will still say.. "oh just parent your kids"... In the face of this and all the other pulls on time and energy in the real world as well as how fast it all changes, it's so hard to just parent your kids. We can't rely on every individual parent staying up to date on and understanding how to get around all of this.

To be clear, I'm not in favour of stupid shit like age verification.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago
[–] MBM@lemmings.world 5 points 1 week ago

See also: LLMs

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

I misread this as “teen pregnancy” at first and with everything going on, i believed it.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago

I called this years ago. I could see the Dopamine addiction happening, and knew these psychopaths would lean into it and try to weaponize it, and they have. Of course, they have.

It's not the first time. Tobacco companies were found to manipulate their formulations to make theor products addict users quicker, addict them stronger, and make it harder to quit, all while denying the addictive properties, and even the obvious health issues.

Oil companies had their own studies back in the 80s, that clearly predicted Climate Change from fossil fuels, and yet they continue to deny it to this day.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the think tanks that fund and support the Conservative Propaganda Machine have also done studies to identify the addictive properties and triggers in their propaganda, and manipulate it for maximum effect.

WHEN we take back our country, and make major changes to get away from the ugly conservative society that they've tried to force upon us for decades, the addictive properties of "products" need to be identified and strongly regulated, to avoid exploiting unsuspecting citizens.