Online giants are feeding children ‘social heroin’, warns Silicon Valley guru

SILICON Valley engineers don’t realise that social media is like “heroin” to children, Google’s former design ethicist has claimed.

Tristan Harris, who left in 2016, said such companies should have to prove that their apps are safe for the young.

The 34-year-old, who was recently in the UK advising the Government, said Britain could be a model for the world if it got its planned social media regulations right.

He said: “You might imagine the people at Instagram or Facebook hire really thoughtful, compassionate child developmental psychologists. That’s not how it works. You have the complete opposite – young engineers who often don’t have children designing

things that are primarily used by children. They don’t have that extra view.”

In 2013, Mr Harris laid out his reservations in A Call to Minimise Distraction and Respect Users’ Attention. The missive struck a chord and was widely shared within the company, prompting Google to make Mr Harris its first design ethicist. But he became frustrated at his lack of real influence and in 2016 left to found the Centre for Humane Technology.

Mr Harris said: “What people get wrong is it’s not just limiting the dose size and how bad it is for you.

“You can screen time-limit so you can do 10 minutes a day instead of 30 – you are still giving children social heroin, and we have to change the fundamental designs.”

♦ A former Facebook moderator is suing the firm for failing to protect her from the trauma she suffered while combing through disturbing images and videos.

Selena Scola worked at the firm’s Menlo Park headquarters for nine months through a contractor. The class action lawsuit claims Facebook created dangerous work conditions for contractors by failing to provide adequate training and counselling. Facebook claims to give moderators 80 hours of training before they start work, and access to counsellors and therapists.