It’s a giant political dodge that has nothing to do with the underlying issues. You want to know what’s the real cancer, the real drug these dealers don’t want you regulating? The NOTIFICATIONS. That’s something everyone on the inside knows. The average person treats validating push notifications like a mouse getting cheese and will act out and continue to generate content to get it.
Look at the emails and push notifications these companies send out to regular people on a constant, daily basis, and you will find the cancer you’re looking for. Eliminating like counts and follower numbers is a nice idea that excites teenage activists but is pointless now that these companies have already built accounts with zillions of followers.
You make a fair point, but I wouldn't say it's got nothing to do with the real problem. It's a step in the right direction, even if it isn't a panacea.
Don't remember where I saw it, but a long time just as smartphones were coming out I saw a bold take on what the next major platform would be. It wasn't going to be web, it wasn't going to be mobile, it was going to be NOTIFICATIONS. The app companies that understood this thrived, and the rest withered and died.
I did notice that notifications were habit-inducing early on, and disabled them entirely for Facebook/Twitter/Email years ago. Still, finding myself regularly going back to all of them, I'm not sure that it's the only problem
Look at the emails and push notifications these companies send out to regular people on a constant, daily basis, and you will find the cancer you’re looking for. Eliminating like counts and follower numbers is a nice idea that excites teenage activists but is pointless now that these companies have already built accounts with zillions of followers.