The Sift: Social media’s ‘Big Tobacco’ moment?

March 30, 2026

Artificial intelligence Celebrities/influencers Journalism

An educator's guide
to news literacy

March 30, 2026

In this issue

Social media’s ‘Big Tobacco’ moment? | RumorGuard slides

Daily Do Now slides

Don’t miss this week’s classroom-ready resource.

Top picks

Here are the latest news literacy topics and tips on how to integrate them into your classroom.

A court gavel knocking near social media icons of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Two recent court cases found tech companies liable for harm.

1. Social media’s ‘Big Tobacco’ moment?

Does social media addiction cause harm to kids? Yes, according to verdicts in two landmark trials.

Addictive design: Kaley, a 20-year-old California woman also referred to as KGM, sued Meta (Facebook and Instagram owner) and Google (YouTube owner) for causing her anxiety and depression after she used the apps as a child. Her lawsuit accused the companies of making social media as addictive as cigarettes with features like infinite scrolling and algorithmic recommendations. On March 25, a jury sided with her.
Predators online: A day earlier, Meta was ordered by a jury in New Mexico to pay $375 million in violation of state consumer protection laws. A state investigation found Instagram and Facebook to be “a breeding ground for predators” without enough protection for young users.
What’s next: Tech companies plan to appeal these verdicts, but some advocates are comparing this to social media’s “Big Tobacco” moment — when lawsuits in the 1990s revealed that tobacco companies knew nicotine was addictive and that smoking posed serious health risks. These tech companies, along with TikTok and Snapchat, face thousands of more lawsuits from families, school districts and attorneys general.

💬 Discuss:

What features on social media apps are designed to keep you scrolling?
Should tech companies be liable for harming young users through addictive design? Why or why not?

💡 Idea: Use the “Reflect” slide in Week 19 of the Daily Do Now resource to further explore this topic.

⭐ NLP Resources:

“Intro to Algorithms” (Checkology® virtual classroom)
Infographic: “Seven Steps for Staying Sharp Online” (also available in Spanish)
Infographic for families: “Teen safety: 6 tips for using AI and social media”

🔗 Related:

“Meta and Google just lost a landmark social media addiction case. A tech law expert explains the fallout” (The Conversation)

2. Fake Black influencers on the rise

Social media videos of AI-generated Black influencers with racist themes are amassing hundreds of millions of views, a BBC News report found.

Viral racist accounts: BBC News and researchers found dozens of Instagram and TikTok accounts that posted AI-generated videos sexually fetishizing Black women. (Note: paywalled link.) The videos exaggerated their features and didn’t include labels to indicate the content was AI-generated.
Taking someone’s likeness: One account manipulated footage of a real person to make her appear Black. Riya Ulan, a model and content creator based in Malaysia, found her videos digitally manipulated this way — then going viral with 173 million views.
Creators profiting: Many of these accounts link to third-party sites for users to pay for more sexually explicit content.
Some content removed: TikTok removed 20 accounts a few days after the BBC contacted the platform about this material.

💬 Discuss:

How are accounts like these harmful? Why do you think creators would make accounts like these?
Should AI-generated content on social media be labeled? Why or why not?
If you were in charge of a social media company, what kinds of rules would you create around AI content?

⭐ NLP Resources:

Lesson plan: “AI or not?”
Infographic: “6 things to know about AI”

🔗 Related:

Video: “The rise of deepfakes and how to stop them” (Financial Times)
“Two boys made deepfake porn of 60 girls. It left a school, small town reeling” (USA Today)

3. Young people want news to be fun

Can news be more fun and entertaining? 😎 That’s what young people want, a Reuters study found.

More laughs: Compared with people age 55 and up, young people ages 18 to 24 were more interested in fun news or news that makes them laugh.
More videos: The report also found that young people prefer videos with personality-driven content for perceived authenticity and intimacy, and that many pay more attention to creators or personalities than to mainstream news sources.

💬 Discuss:

How do social media platforms shape the way news is presented?
How do you determine whether news is credible or not? What’s the difference between news, content about news and satire?
Do you get news from influencers? How can you tell if this content is reliable and accurate?

💡 Idea: List news topics (earthquake, inflation, war, car accident, sporting event, scientific breakthrough, etc.) on pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. Have students pick a topic from the bowl. Ask them to play the role of a journalist — how would they cover and present the topic to make it engaging for their peers while maintaining standards of quality journalism? Have students share their ideas in small groups or with the class.

⭐ NLP Resources:

A thumbnnail of "The Information Ecosystem Depends on News" infographic by the News Literacy Project.

Poster: “The Information Ecosystem Depends on News”
Classroom activity: “Is it news?”

🔗 Related:

“What Is News? How Americans decide what ‘news’ means to them – and how it fits into their lives in the digital era” (Pew Research Center)

These interactive slide decks help students think carefully and critically about viral claims in the digital age.

Video of long lines at gas stations shared out of context

A post reads, “Petrol Scarcity Hits United Kingdom as Long Queues Form at Fuel Stations. Motorists across the United Kingdom are facing long queues at fuel stations amid growing fears that the country could run out of petrol within two days” and features a video showing dozens of cars lined up at a gas station. The News Literacy Project has added a label that says “FALSE CONTEXT.”

❌ NO: This video does not show long lines at gas stations in the United Kingdom.

✅ YES: This video shows a line of cars at a gas station in Seville, Spain, in early March as drivers anticipated a rise in fuel costs due to the Iran war.

✅ YES: Gas prices increased worldwide in March after Iran effectively blocked passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for oil tankers.

❌ NO: There is no “issue with fuel availability,” according to the U.K.’s Department of Energy Security.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

Sharing a genuine video or photograph in a false context is a common tactic to spread misinformation. While the video in this example is genuine, it is being shared with an inaccurate description. Check out these Google Slides for tips to spot these out-of-context claims.

Fake Michael B. Jordan and Kim Kardashian Oscar comments spread on social media

A post reads, “Breaking News. Michael B. Jordan has finally responded after Kim Kardashian’s viral comment asking if he’s single following his Oscars win” and includes images of the actor, the reality star and an apparent screenshot of a post from Jordan that reads, “I’m good. Every time a successful Black man is winning, somehow you try to insert yourself into the moment and shift the narrative. Not happening here. I worked too hard for this to turn into something else. Respectfully… keep me out of it.” The News Literacy Project has added a label that says “IMPOSTOR CONTENT.”

❌ NO: This is not a genuine post from Sinners star Michael B. Jordan.

✅ YES: This is a piece of impostor content.

❌ NO: Kim Kardashian did not ask if Jordan was single after his recent best actor Oscar win.

✅ YES: These fabricated posts can be traced back to parody accounts.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

Fabricating a social media post to make it seem as if a politician, celebrity or other public figure made a statement that they never actually said is a common way to spread falsehoods online. This sort of impostor content can be used to inflame political discourse, cause confusion over current events or, in this case, generate engagement with made-up celebrity drama. Check out these Google Slides for tips on spotting these fabrications.

➕ Don’t expect to see AI-generated articles on Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia has banned AI-generated content from its site, except for translations and minor copy edits reviewed by humans.

➕ It’s the end of Sora, OpenAI’s AI-generating video app that was unveiled to much fanfare two years ago. The company did not immediately give a reason for pulling the plug.

➕ A judge ruled that parts of the Defense Department’s media policy violated the First Amendment. The department, which said it is planning to appeal, shortly after moved a work area for journalists out of the Pentagon building.

➕ A study found that, on average, AI-generated meal plans had about 700 calories a day less than what dietitians recommend for teens.

➕ Careful when you search: Google is experimenting using AI to rewrite news headlines in Google search, sometimes with inaccurate or misleading information.

➕ Researchers found that AI models often don’t cite news sources in their responses unless prompted, and that ChatGPT is the worst at crediting news outlets when compared with Claude, Gemini and Grok.

➕ Love Island … but with human-looking fruit? A time-traveling, AI-generated influencer making history videos? These are among the latest AI trends amassing millions of views and raising questions about this content’s growing popularity in the digital landscape.