Self-guided resource · 2026

How much do you truly know about social media?

Depending on how chronically online you are, do you know that your favourite social media app is designed to influence your digital behaviour and the experiences you have online? What you post, what you read, the content you consume, how you feel, the interactions you see, what goes into your personal feed; these are all shaped by deliberate design choices that are engineered to keep you hooked.

redesign platforms to bridge divides platforms are not neutral become a conscious user reclaim the algorithm redesign platforms to bridge divides platforms are not neutral become a conscious user reclaim the algorithm
The campaign

social media re:designed

An initiative to not only have you understand how platform design plays a role in amplifying harmful content, but to reimagine how social media could look if it were designed for social cohesion and well-being.

01 · Understand

See the design behind the harm.

Harmful content does not spread on its own. Feeds, rankings and reward buttons are engineered choices, and those choices decide what gets amplified.

02 · Reimagine

Picture social media built for us.

Design can work the other way too. Platforms can be engineered for social cohesion and well-being, and some of that work has already started.

The way in is reading. We sorted every resource on this page by how much of the system you already see, not by age or expertise. Find the sentence that sounds like you, and start there.

01 Beginner “I have not really thought about this.” Start here ↓ 02 Curious “I am starting to see the design.” Start here ↓ 03 Pushing “I can see the system, and I want to push on it.” Start here ↓
01 Beginner

I have not really thought about this.

You use social media every day. You constantly get emotionally stirred: tired after a long scroll, jealous of someone's post, shaken by a comment thread.

But you have not really asked why those feelings happen, or who decided how the apps work.

You probably assume the For You Page is random. You probably assume the toxic stuff online is just because of the people who produce the content and those who encourage them.

Reading list · Beginner

Start with one of these.

Plain language. Each one stands on its own.

From "I never thought about it" → to seeing the design.

02 Curious

I am starting to see the design.

You're able to name what is happening to you and to others on social media. You recognise specific harms (hate, mis- and disinformation, doomscrolling, body image strain, polarisation) and you no longer accept the premise "that's just how social media is" as a sufficient answer. You're beginning to feel critical about who is responsible, and how the architecture of social media is engineered for specific values.

What this level opens up Harm ↔ the feature behind it
  1. 01 Specific harms map to specific design features. Infinite scroll, the FYP, like counts, recommendation systems: each design feature is a choice, and each one produces a different harm.
  2. 02 The business model is the engine. Platforms earn from your attention and the data they collect, which they sell to advertisers. Your attention is the product.
  3. 03 Other countries have started to regulate. EU Digital Services Act. UK Online Safety Act. Minnesota's Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation Act, HF 4400 are examples of upstream regulation enforcing accountability in terms of algorithms, interface design and default settings.
  4. 04 A different social media is possible. Community moderation. Slower feeds. Friction built into the design. Alternative solutions are here and are constantly evolving.
Reading list · Curious

Name the system.

Longer reads. Each one connects a harm to the design behind it.

From seeing the design → to pushing on it.

03 Pushing

I can see the system, and I want to push on it.

You understand that platform design is not neutral, and that algorithms and ad models are engineered choices shaped by the values of the companies that own them. You can articulate why Malaysia's current approach (post takedowns, content moderation, licensing) misses the structural problem. You feel the drive to push for real transparency and accountability from platforms and regulators.

01 · How it works

Recommender systems, demystified

Engagement signals. Watch-time optimisation. Implicit feedback loops. The actual machinery that decides what you see, and what gets denied visibility.

02 · The money

How ad models drive amplification

Why the cheapest content to serve is the most extreme. Why outrage scales better than nuance. Why this is a feature of the model, not a bug in moderation.

03 · Two kinds of accountability

Algorithmic vs licensing-based

Why takedowns and user prosecution miss the point. Why "register with us" is not the same as "show us how the system works." Why Malaysia's framework leaves the engine untouched.

04 · Borrowable frameworks

EU DSA, UK OSA, Australia's eSafety regime

What researcher access provisions actually unlock. What systemic risk audits do. What Malaysia could borrow, and where the gaps are when you try to.

05 · The transparency problem

"Open" reports that show you nothing

TikTok's aggregated transparency reports. X's "open source algorithm" claim and its limits. Why partial transparency is sometimes worse than none.

06 · What's possible

Prosocial design as a real alternative

What it looks like to engineer for social cohesion and society's well-being. Bridging-based ranking. Exposure diversity. Alternative reward signals. The alternatives exist.

Reading list · Pushing

The deep end.

Papers, frameworks and primary sources.

Send this to one person at a different level than you.

The campaign moves when one person passes a card to another. Building our knowledge base is the first step to being a more conscious social media user.

Follow the campaign →