From Cigarettes to Algorithms: Meta Faces Its Tobacco Moment

Meta and social media platforms employ public relations tactics strikingly similar to Big Tobacco's mid-century strategy: reframing harmful industry practices as innovation while minimizing evidence of damage to users, particularly adolescents. As countries implement social media bans and regulators propose Surgeon General-style warnings, the parallel between tobacco's century-long denial and social media's current accountability crisis becomes undeniable. This convergence marks a critical turning point where Meta's engagement-maximizing algorithms face the same existential scrutiny that ultimately transformed public perception of cigarettes.