Picture this: your local water company decides which neighborhoods get clean water based on "community standards." Sounds absurd, right? That's exactly what treating social media like a public utility would mean. Once we accept that a platform has a duty to serve everyone equally, the government gets to define what "equal" means. And that opens the door to deciding what content is acceptable, who gets a voice, and which speech is "harmful." I get the appeal of the utility model. It worked for electricity because the service is neutral and measurable. But social media isn't neutral. It's editorial, social, and deeply entangled with free expression. Regulating it like a utility would force companies to carry content they find abhorrent, or worse, let the state pick winners and losers in public debate. From a moral standpoint, that's a rights nightmare, not a solution. The better path is transparency laws and anti-monopoly enforcement, not pretending Facebook works like a power grid.

The addiction argument sounds compassionate, but it's built on a false premise. Treating social media like a utility doesn't cure addiction; it just hands the cure to the government. Utilities are supposed to be neutral and essential. Social media is neither. Your water company shouldn't decide when you've had enough water, and your electric company shouldn't limit your usage for your own good. So why would we let regulators cap our feeds or algorithmically "nudge" us away? More importantly, think about what the utility model actually does. It forces universal service and non-discrimination. That means the state gets to define what "acceptable use" looks like. From a deontological view, that violates user autonomy and free expression. From a utilitarian view, the harm of state-controlled speech outweighs the benefit of reducing screen time. If addiction is the real concern, then regulate with transparency requirements and design standards, not by turning a speech platform into a state-sanctioned monopoly. That path protects people without sacrificing their rights.