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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

#81

Post by riffruff24 »

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.

Unfortunately we also agreed to have dmca.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#82

Post by jimt1234 »

justrealist wrote: post #78
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.

[flagged]

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#83

Post by anigbrowl »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #30
Eumenes wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need 'experts' to realize that social media is bad for young people. They are just going to suggest regulating content. I can see it now ... young girls cannot see content showcasing skinny or 'classically beautiful' women, because it gives them a skewed perspective of 'beauty' that may lead to eating disorders. The FTC pats themselves on the back, job well done, and nothing changes. Regulating the internet…

Put wifi and cell jamming technology in public schools. Ah, yes, technical solutions to social problems. Those always work. Here's a better idea: raise your kids to value things that are real, and then teach them that nothing they see on a screen is real.

nothing they see on a screen is real

This is just as irrational as believing anything on a screen is real.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#84

Post by antiviral »

pixl97 wrote: post #10
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…

How often again do you hear billionaires say "Oh no, I wish I had been more ethical and not made mountains of cash off by shitty behavior", because I'm not having any recollections of this. The fines are just a cost of doing business for them.

Most businesses need to buy their raw materials to produce their products. With Meta, the raw material is consumer data, which users have been giving away to Meta freely.

The fines only slightly raise the cost of this raw material from $0, so it's unlikely to deter Meta's behavior until someone faces a more severe penalty there.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#85

Post by CamperBob2 »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #68
CamperBob2 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the First Amendment is repealed.

What about in the rest of the world where the first amendment doesn't apply?

These are US-based companies (and there's a reason for that.) If they voluntarily choose to subject themselves to the laws of other countries without constitutional free-speech protections, that's on them.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#86

Post by tempsy »

Manuel_D wrote: post #79
tempsy wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 discussi…

No idea what you're saying. The NYT A/B testing headlines is not something that impacts teen mental health in the same way that social media impacts mental health.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#87

Post by Manuel_D »

scythe wrote: post #77
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.

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.

> The regulation of advertising would seem to necessarily imply the regulation of any ad-funded social media.

No, it would imply the regulation of advertisements that are displayed on social media not the actual content or algorithms of social media. Advertisements are regulated, the rest of the content people put on social media is not (outside of very narrow things like credible, true, threats).

Content doesn't suddenly become saddled with the same regulations as advertisements themselves just because it's hosted on an ad-supported platform.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#88

Post by [deleted] »

mcpackieh wrote: post #52
hutzlibu wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We know the downsides already and most think the downsides of crminalization is higher.

> We know the downsides already In the sense that the downsides are documented in the relevant scientific literature, sure. But popular perception of those downsides is very different. A whole lot of people think those downsides are a pack of lies: that cannabis isn't habit forming, that it doesn't make the average user lazy and complacent, that it doesn't increase the risk of schizophrenia, that driving under the in…

[deleted]

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#89

Post by happytiger »

bertil wrote: post #41
micromacrofoot wrote: post #6

The FTC is looking to hire child psychologists to evaluate the affects of these platforms, so expect more of this to come https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/23/ftc-plans-to-hire-child-psyc... There's a thin line to be walked between privacy and regulation, but Facebook's own research has pointed at the harmful effects of Instagram on the mental health of children... so I think some scrutiny here is overdue. https://www.the…

> Facebook's own research has pointed at the harmful effects of Instagram on the mental health of children Facebook’s own research has found both positive and negative effects, depending on the child’s status among their peers. The Verge is quick to point out that: > Instagram makes teen girls feel worse about their bodies but more discreet in reminding people that fashion magazines, including The Cut (also published…

I’m good with damming them all and getting rid of shit technology directions that hurt people, especially kids.

Who is actually ok with this?

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#90

Post by thrill »

AKA: Dozens of states' attorney generals could petition legislatures to pass laws saying under-18's are not allowed to use Facebook in their state, knowing it'd probably fail because of freedom of speech trespasses, but instead would rather sue the deep-pocket corporation for profit and reelection-time bennies.
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