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Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

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Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#71

Post by AlecSchueler »

paxys wrote: post #8

I'm convinced that a decade or two from now we are going to look back on social media exactly like we see the tobacco industry today. The companies knew what they were selling, knew the harm, but put profit over public good.

Personally I think the effects of social media will be overshadowed by the impact of internet pornography. More and more young men every day are lamenting the issues it causes them and more and more relationships are falling apart as a result.

Historically, though, most doomsayers are proven wrong. Let's hope we are too.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#72

Post by haltist »

I remember when Facebook was restricted to folks with college domain emails. I used it for a year and decided I wasn't interested in algorithmic online stalking of people I barely knew and cared about. I'm still surprised social media turned out to be such a big hit. I guess people wanted some way to keep track of social news and the usual outlets like blogs and RSS feeds were too "nerdy" for the average internet consumer. Now we are stuck with digital panopticons and all the attendant problems associated with them. If you have kids I recommend teaching them how to properly use computational devices instead of just being passive consumers who get herded by statistical algorithms to optimize clickthrough rates.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#73

Post by scythe »

duringmath wrote: post #51
swatcoder wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether courts can pin that sentiment down against prior laws may determine if these "lawsuits have merit" as you say, but the concern and calls for action exist and are growing regardless of how the lawsuits happen to settle. All these companies know they're a target for accountability now, and even many people inside of them acknowledge a need for reform and possibly restitution. Your comment seems focused on the p…

The abdication of parenteral responsibility is another element here.

Social media is harmless, so it's the parents' fault for not restricting their child's use of social media? You can't have this one both ways. If there is a parental responsibility, it is incurred because social media can be harmful, which creates a cause for action.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#74

Post by ceejayoz »

duringmath wrote: post #53
Curvature5868 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's assume that the lawsuits are poorly constructed. That does not necessarily mean that Facebook is harmless. It just means these lawsuits aren't sufficient to prove harm. Consider this analogy: Just because the DA doesn't have enough evidence to convict in a murder trial, that doesn't mean that the defendant is innocent. I just means they haven't been proven guilty.

We tend to presume innocence until proven otherwise.

Sure. That’s why they’re suing. To prove it in court.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#75

Post by ShamelessC »

duringmath wrote: post #53
Curvature5868 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's assume that the lawsuits are poorly constructed. That does not necessarily mean that Facebook is harmless. It just means these lawsuits aren't sufficient to prove harm. Consider this analogy: Just because the DA doesn't have enough evidence to convict in a murder trial, that doesn't mean that the defendant is innocent. I just means they haven't been proven guilty.

We tend to presume innocence until proven otherwise.

Not in the court of public opinion. People are allowed to judge guilt/innocence for themselves well in advance of being legally proven. Cynicism about modern day capitalism is thoroughly justified. The track record of ad-tech companies to "do the right thing" is really bad.

It's up to Meta to handle PR on such things. Unfortunately when your company is accused of, for instance, contributing to a genocide, your PR department probably doesn't have a lot of options.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#76

Post by [deleted] »

johnnyworker wrote: post #64

Shout outs to the person who wrote this: > My reason for reducing my social media presence is the Like count next to every thought expressed. By adding a publicly visible number next to every expressed human thought, you influence behavior and thinking. -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19325515

[deleted]

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#77

Post by scythe »

Manuel_D wrote: post #54
dexwiz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both censorship and advertising regulations both exist in accordance with the first amendment.

Yes: censorship is prohibited, at least outside of specific narrow circumstances. Advertising regulations specifically regulate advertising products. Neither of these translate into regulating what can and cannot be said on social media, outside of narrow cases like promotional or sponsored content.

Practically all social media revenue is derived from advertising, and the lawsuit specifically references advertising regulations. The regulation of advertising would seem to necessarily imply the regulation of any ad-funded social media.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#78

Post by justrealist »

barbazoo wrote: post #3

> Meta, along with Snap, TikTok, and Google, now face hundreds of lawsuits claiming they are to blame for adolescents and young adults suffering anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and sleeplessness as a result of their addiction to social media. The companies also face scores of complaints by public school districts on behalf of students alleging that the platforms have created a public nuisance. I hope the money…

Google is actually fairly safe due to their utter inability to build a successful social media platform.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#79

Post by Manuel_D »

tempsy wrote: post #65
Manuel_D wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes: censorship is prohibited, at least outside of specific narrow circumstances. Advertising regulations specifically regulate advertising products. Neither of these translate into regulating what can and cannot be said on social media, outside of narrow cases like promotional or sponsored content.

Who said this had to do with censorship of content? The issue with social media is algorithms have been fine tuned to incite FOMO, narcissism, self-esteem issues, etc., and keep people addicted/endlessly scrolling.

The above commenter mentioned censorship. Regardless, the usage of algorithms doesn't mean there's a different set of rules the government can use to regulate it. The incentives you mentioned aren't limited to social media. Traditional media also has these same incentives, and tunes their headlines to be more sensational and attention grabbing. For example: https://blog.tjcx.me/p/new-york-times-ab-testing HN discussion at the time https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26419070

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#80

Post by barelyauser »

DougN7 wrote: post #62

Growing up, I knew maybe two or three kids that had emotional problems. Now (as an adult with grown kids) I hardly know any families that don’t have such a person. I’m sure part of it is we’re more open, which is great, but I can’t attribute all of it to that. The rising generation is really struggling. My guess is social media, but maybe it’s environmental pollution or something similar. I live in the US for what it…

The system does not care for their well being because they are redundant. Drug use was frowned upon during the Cold War because we needed people to win a industrial war against a much bigger enemy. We don't need them anymore, so the system does not care if they end overdosing in an alleyway. It is all connected, culture, social and economical.
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