cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/51177007

Think the roughly $18 Billion Meta has settled for over child safety is a slap on the wrist?

Wait until you see the actual details:
😀 Paid in annual installments over a 10-year period

😜 States receive the money, not the victims

🤑 30% will only be paid if YouTube & TikTok:

"...pay an amount matching the 30% figure
"...implement a one-hour Daily Limit, Night Mode, and age assurance measures"

https://about.fb.com/news/2026/08/agreement-with-state-attorneys-general-supporting-teens/

Meta even wrote a wonderfully open letter to their competitors!

Sadly now everyone will have to verify themselves, too bad for Meta, now they will have to collect even more data - which we know they totally oppose and hate ;)

dont be confused, this is what peak democracy™ looks like. the system working as intended.

The impact of social media on young minds has been shown to be quite pernicious. We need to limit screen time for young adults so we don't end up with another generation of tablet kids who are socially stunted and encounter difficulties interacting with coworkers when they enter the job market.

democracy=corruption and other enlightened takes

Genuinely what of the damage to our parents generation? They are susceptible to dangers and manipulation and other dangers on social media. If we all agree that social media is probably a bit shit - shit enough that we should protect children from its harm - then why should we not enact some protections for everyone else too?

What expertise did they rely on to come to this particular set of limits?

I would have hoped the list would look more like

-Meta must divest entirely from the social media arm of their business

-Prosecutions for each decisionmaker who ignored internal evidence that their products were causing harms

I like how they are trying to drag down other platforms with them. Not that they don't deserve it, just shows they really do stop at nothing to tarnish their name at every turn.

Just fucking take the slap on the wrist, apologize and lie and say you'll do better like every other corperation and maybe people will at best forget about you.

social media is their entire (profitable) business

how is this relevant to privacy? Unless I'm missing something the only privacy related thing would be if they increased their age verification requirements more.

I think limiting from the platform is not a good option. For some teens with a horrible family (domestic violence for example), social media maybe the only shelter they could turn to. Also, those companies tend to break open web and require an account and even verification in the name of protecting child. DNS blacklist enforced by parents is probably a better option IMO.

I was that teen! Online social platforms saved my life when abusive and helicopter-y parenting was gunning for the opposite. That was a different time, though, the internet has gotten significantly worse.

Seriously, people need to just be decent goddamn parents. I don't understand why you'd have a child these days if you don't know how to navigate parental controls on-device and on the network level. You'd be neglecting your child otherwise, shit's different nowadays.

I took it as a joke, obviously meta will never divest or be required to divest there entire social media branch.

Baby steps. The political will isn't there yet. First you ban it for kids who are the most vulnerable as their brains are not fully mature. Do the most good you can in a limited world

people need to just be decent goddamn parents.

I think this single handedly would fix most of society's problems. Within a generation at least.

It is related: parental supervision, id verification and pushing for the same on TikTok & Youtube :)

100% haha

and the Nobel Peace Prize goes to ;)