And GitHub. That site is 50% social media trying to get you to engage and algorithms to suggest new Node.js projects for you.

I use GitHub every day for work and have run into exactly none of what you describe.

You’ve never encountered the explore tab, or the recommended projects sidebar, or read the news of users ‘star hacking’ to get more attention to their projects, or chosen one library over another because it had more ‘stars’, or seen the promotion of ‘fork me on GitHub’ banners, or seen examples of ‘link your GitHub account’ right next to ‘link your Twitter account’ as a means of self-promotion?

You forgot Snap.

Snap is more of a messaging app afaict. I'm pretty sure the biggest harms from social media come from algorithmic targeting of content, echo chamber creation, and the ability to hugely amplify fringe opinions and destabilise debate.

If your only concern is data handling, though, then fair enough.

Children become addicted to Snapchat streaks and their peers in school shun them socially based on whether they have big streaks with popular kids or not. It's like Lord of the Flies mixed with an episode of Black Mirror.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lets-talk-tween/2017...

I thought snap was passe now that tik tok is around.

Do you rephrase my comment reductively because you're okay with corporations monetizing children via addictive dark patterns, in defiance of recommendations from child psychologists? or

I do not use Snap but I'm pretty sure it has algo delivered content as well, just like Tiktok and insta.

And Google, and Microsoft and ...

I will assume sarcasm.

For sake of not letting a bogus argument go unanswered: Google and Microsoft offer generic tools that have very broad social benefit outside the monetization of user data.

That said, I would prefer it if the FTC would address data monetization practices at all tech companies--it is a fine business model, but it is troublesome as a necessary addition to my spreadsheet or the operating system for my desktop/laptop/phone-sized computer.