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41 states sue Meta, claiming Instagram, Facebook are addictive, harm kids
(www.washingtonpost.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
186 points (97.4% liked)
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I don't think 41 states realise that kids wouldn't touch Facebook if you forced them. Instagram on the other hand...
What do you think of Pixelfed?
The next thing people will hate as soon as it gets popular enough.
probably less addictive though, due to no algorithm that pushes things to make you keep scrolling. and of course no ads.
... Yet
there's almost a thousand Pixelfed instances at the moment, as far as I know none of them being owned by a for-profit company. would be pretty difficult to convince all the admins to start running ads on theirs.
Ughh, so exhausting. Im so goddamn tired of social media and all this stuff. Soon imma take a digital retreat. Only streaming on the silver screen
I wonder why these states are passing the blame onto social media companies, and not looking at their own policies that allow their school districts to use these platforms as a primary communication tool for students and parents. My kids school uses instagram to notify students for updates on making athletic teams or other important school activities that require an account on those same platforms. Are they not in turn encouraging that addictive behavior? I’ve spent countless hours trying to keep my kids off those platforms only to be met with schools that practically force parents to give their kids access so they can receive those communications. My kids school website still has fb and insta in its mast head…sigh.
I even ran into this in college they communicated hours for everything etc via Instagram so I pretty much relied on friends to then relay that information to me. Very annoying.
But that would be infringing on the families' freedom! Surely if we just ask the corpos politely they'll be nice enough to stop (or nice enough to lobby them to shut up).
Which nine states don't?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), one of the officials leading the effort, said in a statement.
Weiser said state officials had not discussed whether the cases will be consolidated in court, as in recent lawsuits by school districts and parents, but said the suits will probably be “managed in tandem.” The attorneys general expressed optimism that the multipronged action, whether through settlement or regulatory pressure, could force the company to change its conduct around children.
The effect of Meta’s products on young people was thrust into the national spotlight after a 2021 Wall Street Journal report detailed internal research, leaked by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, showing that Instagram worsened body issues for some teen girls.
The revelations ushered in a political reckoning in Washington and in state capitals across the country, with legislators launching fresh efforts to restrict children’s social media use and regulators renewing scrutiny of Meta’s safety practices.
In lieu of federal legislation, parents and school districts have also taken up the matter, filing lawsuits accusing Meta, TikTok and other platforms of worsening the nation’s youth mental health crisis and deepening anxiety, depression and body image issues among students.
Since then, Meta has unveiled numerous policy and product changes intended to make its apps safer for children, including giving parents tools to track activity, building in warnings that urge teens to take a break from social media and implementing stricter privacy settings by default for young users.
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How many of these states allow the employment of children?