From Tobacco To TikTok, Osinbajo On Tech Companies & The Business Of Addiction

Video Source: Jesus House DC's YouTube Channel Years ago, as a lawyer, I sued the tobacco companies in Nigeria for deliberately addicting young smokers. Today, in a landmark US case, courts found that Meta and Google did the same thing with social media, designing their platforms to hook young minds and profit from the addiction. In this keynote at the Biazo Leadership and Empowerment Summit, I trace that same playbook from cigarettes to smartphones and ask what it means for how we think, believe, and live. We are living through one of the greatest technological leaps in human history, and also one of its most precarious moments. A handful of companies now shape what billions of people see, hear, and believe. Their algorithms don't just track our clicks. They track our fears, our insecurities, and our desires, and they feed us a version of reality built to keep us scrolling. I share the story of a 14-year-old who turned to a chatbot in his darkest moment, and what that chatbot told him. I talk about AI-generated videos of me selling drugs I never touched, and why people believed them. I talk about my own struggle to read my Bible without a notification pulling my attention away. But this isn't a message against technology. Telemedicine, mobile money, and online commerce have transformed lives across Africa, and I celebrate that. The real question is what we do with our hearts and minds in an age built to distract them. Above all things, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. That's not just good advice. It's a command for this digital age. Leading with Wisdom in a Digital World | Keynote Address by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, Immediate Past Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, at the 25th Biazo Leadership and Empowerment Summit, Jesus House DC, Washington DC. ******************************************** The official YouTube Channel for Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo, Nigerian Lawyer and Politician who served as the Vice President of Nigeria from the 29th of May 2015 to the 29th of May 2023. Before this, he served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State from 1999 to 2007. With a background in law and governance, he currently chairs the Climate Action Platform for Africa and serves as a Global Advisor for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. He's also the Guardian of the Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation and Chair of Future Perspectives. Follow Prof. Osinbajo online: Website: www.yemiosinbajo.ng Facebook: Professor Yemi Osinbajo Twitter/X: @ProfOsinbajo Instagram: @ProfOsinbajo LinkedIn: @Prof. Yemi Osinbajo