Anti-social media
The fines are piling up for social media companies that don't do enough to protect children.
Social media platforms have become notorious over the past 15 years for their ability to evade regulation. Yet the past few months have shown that lawmakers have reached at least one consensus when it comes to Big Tech: somebody needs to think of the children.
On Tuesday 42 attorneys general in the US sued Meta, accusing the tech giant of worsening a youth mental health crisis through its Facebook and Instagram apps. In a federal suit, 33 states said Meta used “unprecedented technologies to entice, engage and ultimately ensnare youth and teens”. The remaining nine attorneys general are taking on Meta in state courts.
At a time when America’s federal lawmakers are struggling to keep the lights on in Washington, the suit is conspicuously bipartisan. The federal case ranges from middle-America red states like Nebraska and Wyoming to Biden backers like New York and California.
US lawmakers are far from alone in acting on this front.
In September, TikTok was hit with a €345 million ($574 million) fine by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees its European Union activity, for insufficient protection of children. The platform exposed children to privacy risks, the DPC said, because for six months in 2020 it didn't automatically set young people's profiles to private. In Australia, the eSafety commissioner has enshrined protection of children in the Online Safety Act — and last week it fined X, formerly Twitter, $610,000 for noncompliance.
