Calling It Quits - Major Companies Taking Step Back From Social Media
Lush’s Instagram post informing followers that they will not be using social media platforms indefinitely.
In October Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, revealed that the mega-tech company was withholding information from the public regarding information from their (Facebook) internal studies on how their products affected the mental health of the user. More shockingly was the staggering amount of young teenage girls who reported feeling bad about their bodies while using Facebook-owned (Now Meta Company) apps such as Instagram. Teenage boys were also seen to be affected by negative social comparisons in smaller, but still alarming numbers. Haugen told Congress, that “Facebook chooses to mislead and misdirect”. This revelation came to a surprise to some, but was mostly shaken off a few weeks later with relatively minimal damage.
Some major companies are beginning to take a seemingly drastic leap after the September 2021 release of The Facebook Files. UK-based cosmetic company, Lush, announced recently that the company will be shedding it’s social media presence in light of the Haugen’s whistleblowing efforts. The company announcing that they will be signing out of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and TikTok until the platforms can provide a safer environment for it’s users. The Chief Digital Officer of Lush, Jack Constantine, stated in an online statement his concern for the wellbeing of people mindlessly scrolling on their devices.
"As an inventor of bath bombs, I pour all my efforts into creating products that help people switch off, relax and pay attention to their wellbeing. Social media platforms have become the antithesis of this aim, with algorithms designed to keep people scrolling and stop them from switching off and relaxing."
Jack Constantine, Inventor and Chief Digital Officer
The company, known for avoiding harmful practices when creating their cosmetic products believes that this falls directly in line of their culture as a business. Jack Constantine, co-founder and product inventor, at Lush, states that he is not willing to expose his customers to this harm as he has spent the entirety of his life avoiding harmful ingredients.
While I believe that there is still long road to go on the front of accountability, I believe that Lush is making an admirable move here. This effort has been performed by the company in the past once, but social media slowly worked it’s way back into their everyday operations as a business. This time they are saying it’s for good until the issues are addressed. A company who is willingly going out of their way to take a estimated $13 million hit from social media sales is big.
A problem that seems to exist is the fact that we are stuck with only a few options and the foresight that if a company decides to not take advantage of a digital landscape for their product, that the other guy will. The age of social media is still young and these growing pains are expected. As early platforms to the social media landscape enter their formative teenage years as companies, my hope is that they begin to address these issues that are brought upon them in a responsible manner. One of the more detrimental actions we could take is just pushing away the facts and worrying about it at a later date, as the US and others have done in decades past.
Again, I will always have a sweet spot for social media in my heart as it is something that I grew up heavily with. But, transparency from social media companies is the most important action these platforms could take - allowing research not to harm them but help them moving forward for years to come.