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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

#131

Post by Curvature5868 »

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.

In your original comment, you suggest "misplaced anger against Facebook". Many people hold the belief that Facebook's products are harmful to children.

Following from that, I can imagine a few viewpoints: 0) Parents are wrong, Facebook is awesome! 1) Facebook has violated existing laws (these lawsuits are exploring that space). 2) Parents should be frustrated with legislators for failing to regulate social media. 3) Parents should be angry with themselves for allowing their children to use Facebook's products.

I'm curious which (if any) of these viewpoints you hold.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#132

Post by hn_version_0023 »

xwdv wrote: post #123
dmbche wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if ads shown to kids "make more revenue" over the lifecycle of the kid than ads aimed at adults. Like the Youtube videos for kids that are nonsense but rake millions of views

We market IAP almost exclusively to kids. They buy em up like candy, and by the time parents realize it we’re gone.

Who is "we" and how do you sleep at night?

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#133

Post by fullshark »

johnea wrote: post #128

I'm all in for suing the shit out of faceplant, goggle and twerk tick... But I have to say, they're basiacally just exploiting an existing weakness. The modern youth mental health "crisis" is fundamentally caused by a willingness to believe that an instagram avitar is "real life". Being lost in an electronicly hosted make believe land is really the root cause of the giant increase in "mental health" issues. Why do pe…

Humans are weak, that's one of the reasons we have laws and torts.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#134

Post by wslh »

glimshe wrote: post #129

Irrespective of the incidental value "Meta" provides, let's keep in mind that no business has a right to exist independently from its standing in the system of laws and the health of its users - especially children. Social media companies argue that they can't monitor every post and do appropriate age verification online because it would be "impossible to scale". Well, tough luck. Not being able to scale is YOUR prob…

> Social media companies argue that they can't monitor ever post and do appropriate age verification online because it would be "impossible to scale". Well, tough luck. Not being able to scale is YOUR problem, not MINE.

1000%. I think there are more complex problems in the world that are solved that this. If you look at youth and teenagers activities in Instagram, their photos and videos, and social graph I don't think it is so difficult to detect them, within a high percentile.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#136

Post by adrr »

duringmath wrote: post #49
adrr wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These lawsuits are from the actual states by their Attorney Generals in federal court. https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bont...

AGs are elected politicians they campaign on this kind of stuff, so them being behind this particular suit doesn't legitimize it but probably the opposite.

They don't bring lawsuits that they can't win. I can't name one case they lost.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#137

Post by hn_version_0023 »

johnea wrote: post #128

I'm all in for suing the shit out of faceplant, goggle and twerk tick... But I have to say, they're basiacally just exploiting an existing weakness. The modern youth mental health "crisis" is fundamentally caused by a willingness to believe that an instagram avitar is "real life". Being lost in an electronicly hosted make believe land is really the root cause of the giant increase in "mental health" issues. Why do pe…

> The modern youth mental health "crisis" is fundamentally caused by a willingness to believe that an instagram avitar is "real life".

I'm not familiar with this argument, as I've never heard it. Could you provide some examples or a study or similar showing this is widespread?

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#138

Post by throwawaaarrgh »

"harmful youth marketing" ? Adults are just as dumb as kids, and can actually impact the rest of the world with their dumbness. We should be suing them for harmful marketing, period. I have had adult friends have literal emotional breakdowns because of social media's harmful effects.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#139

Post by 0xParlay »

glimshe wrote: post #129

Irrespective of the incidental value "Meta" provides, let's keep in mind that no business has a right to exist independently from its standing in the system of laws and the health of its users - especially children. Social media companies argue that they can't monitor every post and do appropriate age verification online because it would be "impossible to scale". Well, tough luck. Not being able to scale is YOUR prob…

I mean FB engineers are specifically optimizing for toxicity at an algorithmic level. It’s the product. You can’t perform controlled experiments to measure the profitability of depression and also fiend ignorance.

You’re all very welcome to whatabout but working at FB is a stain on your character.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#140

Post by Eumenes »

KittenInABox wrote: post #40
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…

> 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. Do you actually have any real exposure to the kind of things that are targeted to women on social media? It's more like young girls shouln't get sold that it's reasonable for them to achieve with a full schoolday and budget…

yes, I've watched my wife and female friends/family scroll Instagram ... every 3rd post is an example you provided. Body image/beauty issues for women were a thing before Instagram and social media so I don't think regulating the nature of advertisements would change much, at least in any measurable way. There are infinite influencers creating similar content as the advertisements.
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