I came to think of Facebook’s policy team as akin to Philip Morris scientists tasked with developing a safer, better filter. In one sense, cutting down the carcinogens ingested by billions of smokers worldwide saved or prolonged lives on a scale few of us could ever match. In another sense, those scientists were working for the cigarette company, advancing the cause of selling cigarettes that harmed people at enormous scale. I was not surprised then, that everyone I spoke to at Facebook, no matter how intelligent or introspective, expressed total certainty that the product was not innately harmful.