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# How Social Media Became the New Tobacco, The Promise We Broke, & When Public Health Goes Quiet
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/how-social-media-became-the-new-tobacco-the-promise-we-broke-when-public-health-goes-quiet/
- Published: 2026-03-28T22:19:21.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-07T13:30:41.000Z
- Description: Kareem // Abdul-Jabbar The normalization of addictive digital platforms through incremental regulatory capture reveals that modern consumer industries have perfected what tobacco companies pioneered: converting public health concerns into acceptable externalities by the time society mobilizes to ...
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-consumer, consumer behavior, ethics

Source: [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmsykpq8je8mayk6p8172j9p?ref=adjacent.media)

The normalization of addictive digital platforms through incremental regulatory capture reveals that modern consumer industries have perfected what tobacco companies pioneered: converting public health concerns into acceptable externalities by the time society mobilizes to act. This signals a structural vulnerability in how late-stage capitalism absorbs and neutralizes moral opposition—the real product isn’t engagement or nicotine, it’s the institutionalization of harm as a feature rather than a bug.