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A comment on Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at landmark US trial. Parent comment

Re:Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at lan... by gadders on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @09:35AM (#46960213)
Reminds me of a Judge Dredd story from the 80s.

A confectionary company invented a type of bubble gum (called "Umpty Candy") that became addictive not because it had any drugs in it, but because they kept optimising the taste until it became too delicious to refuse.

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Re:Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at lan... by maurits on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @10:39AM (#46961229)
"the bliss curve" [1]

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_point_(food)

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Re:Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at lan... by incahoots on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @10:54AM (#46961516)
I was thinking Robocop had the relevance factor these days, though I do enjoy the aesthetics of Dredd.
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Re:Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at lan... by testing22321 on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @09:39AM (#46960255)
Potato chip brands spend enormous sums of money on flavour engineering for that very goal.
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Re:Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at lan... by mentalgear on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @09:54AM (#46960472)
fun fact: the people working for those companies, even though the attribute they are optimizing for is "addictability", they call it "snackability". Probably b/c of motivation and ... legal.
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Re:Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at lan... by incahoots on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @10:55AM (#46961546)
additional fun fact: Philip Morris (yes that one) controlled the majority of these companies and brands during the 80s & 90s.
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