by Lennon Torres, After Babel
With Big Tech companies recently losing two key lawsuits over the harm they do to youth — both in rulings they have promised to appeal — a false narrative has begun to re-circulate. The claim is that requirements making digital communities safer for young people will somehow undermine queer expression.
Here is my message, coming from a transgender woman who grew up with and was badly harmed by exploitative social media: Do not let Big Tech hide itself behind a rainbow flag. The truth is, queer people are the ones these platforms fail first and protect last.
Many gay, transgender and queer kids lack supportive families and affirming schools. To them, digital spaces may seem like a lifeline — a place where they can be themselves. Unfortunately, those digital spaces are often built on the same logic that once targeted kids with cigarettes: Maximize use, minimize accountability and monetize vulnerability. These platforms were designed not to empower us but to get and keep us hooked.
In the social media addiction trial that recently wrapped up in Los Angeles, plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier asked Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar how Facebook’s leadership dealt with the issue of “addiction.” Béjar replied: “They changed the name of it” — specifically, they stopped calling it “addiction” and called it “problematic use” instead. He added, “You couldn’t talk about it.”