Whistleblowers who once worked at Meta and X (until the guilt got too much) reveal the truth about the companies that increasingly rule our free time – and it’s even worse than you may have feared. Prep those bunkers now Sometimes it’s a real problem not being able to swear unreservedly in a national newspaper. I mean, I understand social convention and propriety ’n’ all that should be preserved and that, generally, as our parents and teachers told us, swearing is nothing but a sign of a poor vocabulary. But not always. Sometimes – and increasingly so, I think, as I look at the burning world around us – swearing might represent the mots justes . It might be the only fair response. Under certain circumstances, anything else begins to look like obfuscation – a veil being drawn over unpleasantness. We would be in a much better position if, to retool Mrs Patrick Campbell’s notes to George Bernard Shaw for this more brutal age, someone early on had told Trump, for example, to eff off, just once. But rules is rules and so I must shape with care my response to Inside the Rage Machine, a documentary about how social media is run. The shortest, most honest, most accurate review I could provide would read: “We’re doomed. We’re all doomed,” before advising you to start prepping a bunker now – use your last moments before pulling the plug on the internet to order supplies or buy an isolated homestead in Montana, then gather a go bag and … just go, people. Go. Continue reading...