Facebook is a failed experiment

It's time to admit the platform is unfixable

Mark Zuckerberg.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo, Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Only a few years ago, the claim that Facebook was bad for society sounded like baseless techno-panic. How times have changed.

In the Trump era, Facebook's vulnerabilities should be clear to all. Just this week, the company revealed that the platform was being misused by accounts based in Iran that were peddling propaganda. Perhaps worse still, a New York Times article suggested that Facebook helps lure people into virulent, even violent xenophobia. Couple this recent news with the obvious influence of Facebook on elections, its negative effect on mental health, and privacy concerns and a plain truth emerges: Facebook causes as much harm as good.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Navneet Alang

Navneet Alang is a technology and culture writer based out of Toronto. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, New Republic, Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt.