In recent months, social media platforms have been taken to court over their harmful effects on consumers. Features such as the infinite scroll and autoplay are being blamed for their addictive qualities. The reportage around these cases gives the impression that the designers behind these features are to blame. But the reality is more complex.

In this article in Fast Company, Robert Fabricant, Partner and Co-founder, Dalberg Design, explains that designers are no longer the main minds behind software features; it’s product managers that make day-to-day design decisions. Often these calls are made for the sake of short-term rewards, resulting in the kind of conflicts that we are witnessing today.

Read the complete article here or here.