Ephrat Livni

Products that don’t exist. Meal deliveries that will never make it to the front door. Smoke breaks lacking the most important ingredient. All this and more—or is it less?—is available on so-called dopamine sites, which offer nothing tangible and yet have somehow become wildly popular as people navigate a digital landscape that cultivates consumption. Named for the brain chemical associated with reward seeking, the sites simulate experiences like online shopping that can generate good feelings.

In an era of tighter antitrust scrutiny of Big Tech in the United States, in Europe and elsewhere, what questions does Meta’s effort to extend its social media reach raise about the industry’s ability to expand into new areas — even when players build new services themselves, rather than buy a smaller foe? Size matters, but it’s just one factor. Regulators will want to know how Meta is gaining market share. Data concerns loom large.  Being big doesn’t run afoul of antitrust law. “The key is network effects.”  “There’s a narrative out there that anything a tech company does is bad.”