How social media platforms keep students hooked: Notifications during school hours and paid βteen ambassadorsβ
5 June 2026 at 17:17
TikTok executives decided not to disable notifications during school hours, ignoring recommendations from their own safety team, and paid millions of dollars to parentsβ and teachersβ associations to promote the social network in schools. Snapchat sent alerts to teenagers while they were in class urging them to share what was happening in the classroom. Google executives knew that YouTube was recommending videos to students during the school day that were unrelated to their lessons. Meta paid βteen ambassadorsβ to promote Instagram and hand out gifts to their classmates.

Β© JUAN BARBOSA
