How to Regulate Social Media in the United States?

Abstract

In the last two decades, technology has rapidly advanced, impacting different aspects of our lives, while regulation has struggled to keep up. The quick rise of online platforms happened so rapidly that we as a society absorbed their content without fully understanding damages they could cause. Platforms like MySpace and Facebook were created in the early 2000s but differed from the way they are structured today. Back then, social media seemed like the next logical step in technological innovation, another outlet for people to share their lives and maintain relationships. The turning point for engagement on social media tools was in 2009 when the app developers shifted from a system of chronological posts, where the newest posts of your “friends” were at the top and went down in order of release. Facebook created features that allowed users to “like” posts, “share” them or “retweet” them. These features allowed the company to keep data on what the user was interested in, and then use that information to spew a feed tailored to the user, also known as an algorithm. By 2013, these tools were fully developed, and the game of social media was altered with a new dynamic of hyper-virality. In this policy paper, the question of how the United States government should regulate social media will be explored. By reviewing existing evidence on the harmful effects of social media, particularly on the mental health of youth, and breaking down existing regulation framework, it will conclude with a final policy recommendation that combines an educational campaign, a ban on the “addictive” feed, and mechanisms that open companies up to liability.