“The consumption of social networks, like that of cigarettes, is eminently social”

LThe arrest and subsequent indictment of Pavel Durov linked to the use of his Telegram platform by criminal organizations have rekindled debates on the dangers of social networks, particularly for the mental health of young people. While some are crying foul about attacks on freedom of expression, others are questioning the effectiveness of this arrest. Can we imagine managing the public health crisis linked to tobacco by arresting cigarette company bosses, without regulating the price and allowing underage users to access cigarettes? This is a fundamental principle of public economics: we must regulate and tax goods and services that generate negative externalities.

Of course, social networks are not tobacco. In particular, tobacco use, as we well know, leads to negative externalities – that is, negative impacts on those who choose not to use tobacco – due in particular to the dangers of secondary exposure to smoke. But tobacco, particularly among young people, generates another externality, called a “network externality”: the more others smoke, the more it is in my interest to smoke. For example, to be in the toilet smoking game (or in the office worker version, to share a cigarette break).

And this is how social networks are much more similar to tobacco than one might imagine. Consumption of social networks, like that of cigarettes, is eminently social. It generates network externalities: the more users a platform has, the more others have an interest in joining it, to meet up with friends, for example. And these externalities can be negative for those who are not there: fear of missing out on something (an evening or an important event), fear of being excluded or of being seen badly. This is what a study conducted by four economists on more than 1,000 American students shows (“When product markets become collective traps: the case of social media”, Leonardo Bursztyn, Benjain Handel, Rafael Jimenez and Christopher Roth, Working paper n° 31771, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2023-2024).

Collective responsibility

The “guinea pigs” were asked to deactivate their Instagram or TikTok accounts in two possible scenarios: either no other user deactivates their account, or all the others deactivate it too. The results are clear. If no other user deactivates, no participant wants to deactivate their account. On the other hand, many of them would like to delete their own use of the social network if the others did the same. In particular, a majority of students (60%) would like to delete their TikTok account in the scenario where all the students did the same (46% in the case of Instagram). They would even be willing to pay ($24 on average, or €21.70) to delete their TikTok account, provided that everyone else did so.

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