Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over

Shift from friends’ posts to “slop” feeds

• Many report Facebook/Instagram feeds dominated by ads, “suggested” posts, reels, AI-looking images, rage-bait, and sexualized content, with friend updates scarce or days old.
• Users point out this is largely a product decision: Meta chooses to inject and prioritize non-friend content, then cites reduced “time with friends’ posts” as if it were organic demand.
• Some note friends are still posting, but the algorithm simply hides them; others say personal posting has dropped because hardly anyone sees it.

Incentives, addiction, and “revealed preference”

• One camp argues this is just consumer choice: when friend-only feeds were A/B tested, engagement dropped, so people “prefer” entertainment feeds (like junk food vs salads).
• Another camp counters that engagement ≠ genuine preference; the apps function like addictive drugs, exploiting attention, not serving stated long‑term desires.
• Analogies to cigarettes, fast food, and fentanyl recur, with suggestions that only regulation (e.g., limits on surveillance ads, forced “friction”) can realign incentives.

Antitrust and framing “social media is over”

• Several see Zuckerberg’s “social media is over” line as courtroom strategy: if Meta is now just one of many generic content platforms (competing with TikTok, YouTube, etc.), it looks less like a social monopoly.
• Others argue Meta still has de facto monopolies in real-identity graphs, events, local groups, and marketplace, and has long used acquisitions and cloning to blunt competition.

Migration to group chats and niche spaces

• Many describe a quiet shift to group chats (WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, Telegram, Discord) for real social life: families, school parents, hobby circles.
• This is seen both as hopeful (more private, no feeds, few ads) and problematic (cliques, FOMO, fragmentation).
• Old-style forums, IRC, Usenet, Mastodon, Bluesky, and small hobby sites are praised for chronological, human‑scale conversation but suffer from discoverability and weaker network effects.

User coping strategies and overall verdict

• Users share tactics: browser-only use with adblockers and CSS filters, extensions like FB Purity/Social Fixer, hidden friends-only feeds, and even automation to time‑limit Instagram.
• Overall sentiment: Meta’s products transitioned from “social networking” to attention‑optimized media feeds; many blame this for isolation, polarization, and enshittification, and see Zuckerberg as both architect and beneficiary of that shift.