Regulating is already being done by the “private” companies that own them, heck it’s the plot of a bond movie (sub in newspapers for social media) with a real life Larry, Elon or Mark as the villain.
As a society we choose what to allow or not allow together, collectively, through politics (ideally) and when things damage our collective health we regulate or ban them. All regulations probably seem impossible before they happen. Australia regulated guns, China regulated social media, plenty of countries regulate alcohol, drugs, gambling. It’s all possible, just have to weigh the positives and negatives and find a balance, but the status quo is broken.