ISSUE 23.42 • 2026-10-19 PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston It’s now clearer than ever that the algorithms used by social-media apps such as Facebook and Instagram are harming young people and adults. As San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge recently wrote, “five times more 10- to 14-year-old girls were admitted to the ER […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Realistic-looking videos that are the most-often recommended by the popular TikTok social media app regarding health care contain no real people 40 percent of the time, a new analysis of the site’s mini-movies has found. Many of TikTok’s top-rated videos on every topic are AI-generated but look exactly like actual […]