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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

#162

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…

> Not being able to scale is YOUR problem, not MINE. Following your reasoning, anything that could possibly harm children should be banned. Cars sometimes kill children, shall we ban them too? Now, suppose we do ban Meta. Where should we stop? should we ban open decentralized social media too? You may not like social media, but a lot of people use them without any particular issues.

That's not following their reasoning at all, it's a strawman. His point was that a business shouldn't be able to claim that doing something we want/require them to do is too hard and just not do it, which is what they currently do with content moderation.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#163

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…

> Not being able to scale is YOUR problem, not MINE. Following your reasoning, anything that could possibly harm children should be banned. Cars sometimes kill children, shall we ban them too? Now, suppose we do ban Meta. Where should we stop? should we ban open decentralized social media too? You may not like social media, but a lot of people use them without any particular issues.

> Now, suppose we do ban Meta. Where should we stop?

Google.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I mean no, they're specifically optimizing for engagement. It just turns out that toxicity fuels engagement.

Among Haugen’s allegations was a claim that the company was knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost profits.

"Knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost profits" is different from blindly optimizing for engagement without understanding what works.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#165

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…

> Not being able to scale is YOUR problem, not MINE. Following your reasoning, anything that could possibly harm children should be banned. Cars sometimes kill children, shall we ban them too? Now, suppose we do ban Meta. Where should we stop? should we ban open decentralized social media too? You may not like social media, but a lot of people use them without any particular issues.

Using a car without a license is in fact banned, because this minimizes harm to kids (and non-kids).

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#166

What’s stopping parents from allowing their kids to use Meta’s products?

The role of parental responsibility is a valid but separate matter.

Kids can sign up to social media from a friend's phone/ computer/ tablet, from a library computer etc., and self-certify their claimed age. They can get phones (without cellphone contract) from other people without their parents' knowledge.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#167
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean no, they're specifically optimizing for engagement. It just turns out that toxicity fuels engagement.

Among Haugen’s allegations was a claim that the company was knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost profits. "Knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost profits" is different from blindly optimizing for engagement without understanding what works.

Oh they understood how it works, and they definitely accepted that their efforts to boost engagement caused mental health issues, especially among teenage girls. But toxicity was not a goal in itself.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nothing they see on a screen is real This is just as irrational as believing anything on a screen is real.

Read some Plato. Preferably with your kids, while they're at an impressionable age.

Stop posturing. You know perfectly well that screens present true as well as false information and media literacy is a matter of distinguishing between the two rather than making categorical assumptions.

Frankly you come off a lot more like Diogenes than Plato.

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#169

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…

> Not being able to scale is YOUR problem, not MINE. Following your reasoning, anything that could possibly harm children should be banned. Cars sometimes kill children, shall we ban them too? Now, suppose we do ban Meta. Where should we stop? should we ban open decentralized social media too? You may not like social media, but a lot of people use them without any particular issues.

> Cars sometimes kill children, shall we ban them too?

Yeah if they sold cars with 0-star zero safety rating claiming that it's just too hard to do anything about making cars safer when you sell cars at scale.

If Meta was a low-margin business, we might buy their argument that "it's just too hard".

Re: Meta sued by states over harmful youth marketing

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I mean no, they're specifically optimizing for engagement. It just turns out that toxicity fuels engagement.

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