The fact that congress has not done anything about FB (other than fruitless hearings) shows how badly in shape we are to confront the risks of social networks.
I think this is where tech workers are failing society. Other industries actively write legislation bc they understand that politicians are not technocrats. The best thing we've come up with is the EFF, but we need to do more given how consequential our industry has become. So if we understand how engagement optimization works, then what governing rules could we come up with to minimize the negative pact?
I think part of it is that there are't enough former software devs or engineers or data scientists in congress or the senate. The only programmer/politician I can name is Mayor Pete. Andrew Yang doesn't count since he was more business and less software dev. Dean Cain also had a CS degree.
