The Social Dilemma is a documentary film that explores the social and cultural impact of social media usage on regular users, with a focus on algorithmically enabled forms of behavior. The film premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released worldwide on Netflix on September 9, 2020. It has won two awards out of seven nominations at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2021. The film highlights the following issues:

• Health Dilemma: A 5,000 person study found that higher social media use correlated with self-reported declines in mental and physical health and life satisfaction.

• Democracy Dilemma: The number of countries with political disinformation campaigns on social media doubled in the past 2 years.

• Discrimination Dilemma: 64% of the people who joined extremist groups on Facebook did so because the algorithms steered them there.

The Social Dilemma also points out that many social networks exploit human weakness by designing with something called positive intermittent reinforcement. Positive intermittent reinforcement is a psychological technique that rewards users with unpredictable positive feedback, such as likes and comments, to keep them engaged with the platform. This technique can lead to addiction and other negative consequences.

In general, a social dilemma is a situation where everyone benefits from social cooperation, but individuals may obtain better outcomes by acting in their own self-interest. The Social Dilemma highlights how social media platforms can exacerbate social dilemmas by using algorithms to manipulate user behavior and increase engagement. The film encourages viewers to take action to change how technology is designed, regulated, and used.