Time: Court Filings Allege Meta Downplayed Risks to Children and Misled the Public

“Meta has designed social media products and platforms that it is aware are addictive to kids, and they’re aware that those addictions lead to a whole host of serious mental health issues,” says Previn Warren, the co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case.

That’s really bad, but everybody knew this.  It’s not like anyone cares about kids.

Meta includes Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.  Here are the allegations.

  • Meta had a high threshold for “sex trafficking” content—and no way to report child sexual content
  • Meta “lied to Congress” about its knowledge of harms on the platform
  • The company knew Instagram was letting adult strangers connect with teenagers
  • Meta aggressively targeted young users
  • Meta’s executives initially shelved efforts to make Instagram less toxic for teens
  • Meta doesn’t automatically remove harmful content, including self-harm content
  • Meta knew its products were addictive, but publicly downplayed the harms

Social media is dangerous for everyone, but adults can legally own guns, drive cars and buy tequila.  I’m all for individual freedom, and suspicious of the ‘sex trafficking’ term.  Coercing someone into sex work is very bad.  Adults should be able to negotiate for affection.  The term may be conflating those activities.

Meta, and all social media companies, could require each user to be a known and verified human.  Other users may not know the actual identity, but the company would. 

  • Bot accounts would vanish.
  • People could query a company to ensure that an account is not set up in their name.
  • Parents could verify that their children do not have accounts.
  • Law enforcement could address criminal activity.
  • Users could filter content to only see posts from users identified by their actual names.

Bad people and organizations don’t want this.  Social media companies like having more users.  Organizations like using bot accounts and troll farms to influence the public.  Some people like being anonymously nasty.  Regular people who just want to stay in touch with their community are left unprotected.

I have five accounts on Reddit because I’d get banned for not being Progressive.  A social media ban doesn’t mean much because accounts are so easy to set up.  Reddit has gotten too nasty to bother visiting.

It’s not all Meta’s fault.  Parents should stop buying smartphones for their children.  Maybe their kids should attend a child prostitute orientation meeting.

Smartphones were an issue for the last 10 years of my teaching career.  I have talked to scores of parents about smartphones.  The only reason for a child to have a smartphone, rather than a flip phone, is that parents want their kid to be cool.  That’s it. 

The vast majority of kids don’t have the means of getting a smartphone and service, without their parents. 

The vast majority of kids don’t like computers for anything other than gaming.  To a young person, social media without a smartphone isn’t nearly as useful or engaging.  Social media won’t dominate their lives.

That’s all that has to be done.  Meta and parents can act responsibly, then let’s see where we are.