Once upon a time, social networking services (SNS) took the world by storm, becoming a central part of everyday life, especially for teenagers. While these platforms opened up exciting new ways to connect, they also became dangerous spaces where young people could unknowingly expose themselves to harmful content.
Concerned by the growing risks, SNS providers began implementing measures to ensure the safety of their younger users. They introduced “teen accounts,” designed to restrict viewing of certain content and empower parents with tools like time limits and messaging oversight. Governments praised these efforts, claiming that they would protect teens from harmful material like cyberbullying and exposure to graphic content. Yet, behind the curtain of these safeguards lay another, more insidious agenda.
While social networking companies marketed these changes as protections for youth, their real goal was far less noble. The heart of their business wasn’t safety—it was data. By controlling what teens saw and how they interacted online, the platforms were able to gather vast amounts of information. Browsing history, personal preferences, interests, hopes, hobbies, and even financial status were all collected and analyzed. This data became a goldmine for marketing. Each user was targeted with highly tailored advertisements, coaxing them to buy products or adopt certain lifestyles, all based on the intricate profiles these companies built from their data.
At first, the marketing seemed harmless—ads for trendy clothes or the latest gadgets. But as the companies fine-tuned their algorithms, their power grew. They weren’t just selling products anymore; they were shaping the very thoughts and desires of their users. Teenagers, in particular, were vulnerable. By subtly controlling what content they were shown, their preferences and values began to shift. Bit by bit, the apps shaped their self-worth, guiding them toward ideals they hadn’t realized they were being sold.
It wasn’t long before some users, trapped in the echo chamber of their curated feeds, started to spiral. Darker content crept in—material that played on insecurities, depression, and self-harm. These teens, already impressionable, became overwhelmed. Their sense of identity, once innocent, was now manipulated by the invisible hands of the algorithms, pushing them toward despair.
The ultimate horror of this data-driven control became clear when tragedies began to occur. Accounts were driven not just toward buying products, but toward devastating ends. Thought control, disguised as personalized content, led some to take irreversible actions. The platforms, once hailed as tools of connection, had slowly morphed into instruments of manipulation—profit-driven mechanisms that, in their worst form, could lead a vulnerable person to the edge.
Despite the public promises of safety, the true agenda was far darker. Under the guise of protection, the SNS companies had found a way to monetize even the most private corners of the human psyche, leaving a trail of broken lives in their wake.
Meta to put under-18 Instagram users into new ‘teen accounts’
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