By: Zachey Kliger (MPA ’22)

“Facebook and Big Tech are facing a Big Tobacco moment,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said earlier this month during a testimony with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. 

“I think that’s an appropriate analogy,” Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, added later.

The fact that Facebook’s products – including its primary social networking site, Facebook, along with Instagram and WhatsApp – have adverse effects on users’ mental health was not in itself revelatory; in recent years, studies have linked excessive social media use to increased anxiety, depression, addiction and narcissism. Rather, the troves of company documents Haugen disclosed confirmed that Facebook has been aware of the ways its products harm teenagers, and that the company has failed to prioritize consumer safety.

If the comparison between Big Tobacco and Big Tech proves to be an apt one, then regulation and legislation alone will only go so far in curbing the harms caused by social media platforms, particularly those pertaining to the mental health of users. Broad changes in normative behavior, and attitudes towards social media, will need to accompany changes in policy.

To illustrate this point, we need not look further than the reduction in tobacco use in the United States—one of the greatest improvements in public health over the past fifty years. Among adults, cigarette smoking rates have fallen from 42.6% in 1965 to 13.7% in 2018. The decline in youth smoking rates, from 36.4% in 1997 to 8.8% in 2017, is even more laudable.

Policy has played a vital role in disincentivizing tobacco use and reigning in Big Tobacco. Federal and state taxes on cigarettes have increased markedly, and locations where smoking is allowed have been greatly restricted. The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 mandated package warning labels, and the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act of 1984 created a Federal Interagency committee on Smoking and Health. In 1996, President Clinton introduced the nation’s first comprehensive program to prevent children and adolescents from smoking cigarettes. And in 2009, the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act granted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products. 

But changes in policy tell only part of the story of the fall of Big Tobacco. Research has shown that the denormalization and declining social acceptance of smoking had the most potent demand-reducing influence on tobacco use. Mass media campaigns and community-based programs drilled home the long-term health risks of cigarettes, and the addictive nature of nicotine. Harrowing public service announcements featuring victims of lung cancer seared into the nation’s psyche the potential consequences of tobacco use. 

“It speaks to the importance of having strong, repeated tobacco control messages,” said Karma McKelvey, PhD, MPH, the author of a 2016 study about the decline in tobacco use among adolescents.

To be sure, social media is not tobacco. Researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the mental health impact of social media use. Yet, there is enough evidence – both on the frequency of social media use among teenagers, and the potential harms of excessive use – to warrant a greater investment in public health communication to promote moderation and responsible use of social media apps.

Moreover, just as the evaporation of societal support for cigarette smoking was central to derailing Big Tobacco, so too will evolving attitudes towards social media be a lynchpin in the campaign to hold Big Tech accountable.

A majority of Americans now favor new legislation to regulate social media platforms, and the chorus of voices on Capitol Hill clamoring to reign in Big Tech seems to grow louder by the week. Yet, social media remains ubiquitous in our lives, particularly for young people. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey of 13- to 17-year-olds found that 45% are online almost constantly, and 97% of teenagers have at least one active account.

In light of the mounting evidence tying excessive social media use to mental health problems in teens and young adults, and the continued popularity of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the dearth of public communication around the issue is puzzling. Where are the mass media campaigns making emotional appeals to parents by emphasizing the dangers excessive use of Facebook and Instagram pose to their children? Where are the Public Service Announcements featuring victims of cyberbullying on SnapChat? Where are the posters and pamphlets in schools and religious centers telling citizens that reducing social media use by 30 minutes per day can significantly reduce anxiety, depression and loneliness?

It appears we are on the cusp of promising regulation from Washington. Lawmakers have proposed bills that would curb algorithmic amplification of harmful speech, strengthen data privacy, promote transparency, and even overhaul existing antitrust laws, with an eye toward making the public less reliant on a small number of tech companies. All of these would be welcome reforms.

But if what faces Big Tech is anything like what happened to Big Tobacco — a reckoning over the industry’s harms to society, and children in particular — policies are unlikely to be a panacea. Public interest campaigns – executed by governments, advocacy groups and community organizations – that raise public awareness of social media’s harms will be necessary to chip away at society’s dependence on the pervasive technology.

Zachey Kliger (MPA ‘22) is the Editor-in-Chief of The Morningside Post. He is studying Social Policy with a specialization in Technology, Media, and Communications.