Facebook Is 'Ripping Apart' Society, Former Executive Warns

He added that Facebook encourages "fake, brittle popularity," leaving users feeling empty and needing another hit, and suggested that this "vicious circle" drives people to keep sharing posts that they think will gain other people's approval...

"If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you," Palihapitiya advised his audience. "If you push back on it, we have a chance to control it and rein it in. It is a point in time where people need a hard break from some of these tools and the things that you rely on. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, [but] misinformation, mistruth."

He added that this is a "global problem" and not just about Russian ads.

"My solution is I just don't use these tools anymore," Palihapitiya said. "I haven't for years. It's created huge tension with my friends...I guess I kind of innately didn't want to get programmed." He also doesn't allow his children to use social networks, he added.