| Because it’s been building for a while, and (in my opinion) because it’s not a major traffic generating topic on builder focused sites like HN. The most proximate domino was the Australian social media ban. Australia was already a country known to experiment with ways to deal with social media - see the news fee they imposed on platforms. Behind that was the build up of negative outcomes from social media for kids, and adults. The harms are not something I tend to find actively discussed on HN; I assume because more people are interested in building the next thing, not digging into the trust and safety details. Customer safety and support are also not going to get anyone promoted in tech. These are cost centers and will often stand in the way of addictive design. Meta executives were nailed precisely for greenlighting designs their own teams told them were harmful for teens. At the same time, there is lobbying going on by these firms, to push the burden of verification to someone else. However, the degree of harm being caused by social media meant we were always going to see voter backlash. |
Define actively. They are discussed often. In discussions of age restrictions especially.