Former Facebook chief shares 'tremendous guilt' over role in company

A former Facebook executive has warned that the tools he helped build are “ripping apart the fabric of how society works”.

Speaking of his “tremendous guilt” about his role as vice-president of user growth at Facebook from 2007 to 2011, Chamath Palihapitiya said: “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth.”

He made the comments about online interactions such as likes, shares and hearts during an event at Stanford Graduate School of Business in November, and they were reported this week by tech website The Verge.

He added: “And it’s not an American problem — this is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem.”

Mr Palihapitiya also voiced concerns over the use of social media for evil, citing cases of hoaxes being shared by social media and leading to real-life consequences such as violent reprisals.

He said he had banned his children from using Facebook and steered clear of it himself.

“I can’t control [Facebook],” he said. “I can control my decision, which is that I don’t use that s***. I can control my kids’ decisions, which is that they’re not allowed to use that s***.”

Calling on his audience to think about their choices and how they could be sacrificing their “intellectual independence”, he did however say the creation of the current environment was “unintentional”.

Mr Palihapitiya's comments are the latest in a slew of criticisms of tech giants including Facebook.

Sean Parker, an early investor in social media, said in November he has become a “conscientious objector” to Facebook because he believes it exploits a vulnerability in people's personalities.

The news also came after the firm launched a trial of its Messenger app for kids.