Marketplace Tech · Thursday, July 16, 2026
According to legal expert Gaia Bernstein, the current debate surrounding the harms of social media to young users mirrors the early debates about the dangers of cigarettes. She points out that in the 1950s, the tobacco industry similarly denied responsibility and funded its own research. Bernstein suggests that the key shift in the tobacco case came when Attorneys General sued on behalf of large groups, shifting the focus from individual responsibility to corporate accountability and increasing the financial stakes.
“In the case of tobacco, there is, you know, very strong scientific evidence that cigarettes are addictive, that they, you know, cause these health harms. Is the evidence base for social media harms and the actual causative nature of social media in those harms as strong there?”
“It's it's a bit hard to believe when we look back that the very same debate we're hearing now about social media is exactly the same debate that happened with cigarettes.”
“What happened though is when the Attorneys General sued. Now, when the Attorneys General sued, you're getting out of this debate of who is to blame, the individual or the company, because they're suing for lots of people.”