Big Danger

Several industries have been described as the New Big Tobacco, including Big Oil, Big Sugar and Big Tech. However, Lee Vinsel cautions against putting too much weight on the apparent parallels.

The tobacco industry is now known to have concealed what it knew about the health dangers of smoking for decades. In 1994, top executives of the seven largest tobacco companies appeared before a committee hearing on Capitol Hill and denied that nicotine was addictive. But American politicians and public no longer believed them.

In recent weeks, senators from both sides of US politics have drawn comparisons between Facebook and Big Tobacco.

• Facebook is just like Big Tobacco, pushing a product that they know is harmful to the health of young people, pushing it to them early, all so Facebook can make money (Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass)
• Facebook and Big Tech are facing a Big Tobacco moment (Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn)
• I think that that’s an appropriate analogy (Senator Cynthia Lummis, R-WY)

Meanwhile, climate activists are using similar language to describe Big Oil. Later this month, it will be the turn of the CEO of ExxonMobil to appear before a committee of the US Congress. Will this be a turning point for climate change denial?

One might imagine that Big Tech would be quite happy to see political and public attention focused on Big Oil rather than on themselves.

Another parallel might be the auto industry, which has spend many years misleading drivers and regulators about safety, fuel efficiency and emissions.

Meanwhile, Big Tobacco remains profitable, especially in the Third World, and is currently promoting Vaping as a supposedly safer alternative. Plus ça change.

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Jonathan Freedland, Is Facebook the tobacco industry of the 21st century? (Guardian, 8 October 2021)

Mark Hertsgaard, Big tobacco got caught in a lie by Congress. Now it’s the oil industry’s turn (Guardian, 14 October 2021)

Mar Hicks, Facebook's Fall From Grace Looks a Lot Like Ford's (Wired, 14 October 2021) However, @STS_News (Lee Vinsel) finds fault with some of the historical detail in this article, and suggests that the apparent analogies may be misleading.

T.J. Kirkpatrick, Lawmakers See Path to Rein In Tech, but It Isn’t Smooth (New York Times, 9 October 2021)

Connor Perrett, Facebook exec Nick Clegg called Big Tobacco comparisons extremely misleading (Business Insider, 10 October 2021) 

Genna Reed, New Research Documents That Sugar Industry’s Playbook Goes Way Back (The Equation, 13 September 2016)

Salvador Rodriguez, Facebook used Big Tobacco playbook to exploit teens and children (CNBC, 30 September 2021)

Related posts: Defeating the Device Paradigm (October 2015), The Ethics of Diversion - Tobacco Example (September 2019)