"Extra Verification steps"

I know how large social media companies operate. This is all about increasing the value of Reddit users to advertisers. The goal is to have a more accurate user database to sell them.

Zuckerberg literally brags to corporations about how good their data is on users:

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

Here, Zuckerberg tells corporations that Instagram can easily manipulate users into purchasing shit:

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

Always be wary of anything available for free.

There are some quality exceptions (CBC, VLC, The Guardian, Linux, PBS, Wikipedia, Lemmy, ProPublica) but, by and large, "free" means they don't care about you. You are just a commodity that they sell.

Facebook, Google, X, Reddit, Instagram... Their goal is keep people hooked to their smartphone by giving them regular small dopamine hits (likes, upvotes) followed by a small breaks with outrageous content/emotional content. Keep them hooked, gather their data, and sell them ads.

The people who know that best are former top executives :

'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia

The Google, Apple and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks who worry the race for human attention has created a world of perpetual distraction that could ultimately end in disaster

the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

nytimes.com

(www.nytimes.com)

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen says parents make 1 big mistake with social media

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen discusses how social media algorithms suck kids in and how parents might accidentally be making things worse.

TODAY.com (www.today.com)