Needs a 0 added, $160B feels fair. Mesothelioma was $35B in 90s money, so about 3x that today. Companies keep getting away with this "cost of doing business" fines, the justice department keeps failing at its duties. The fines either need to wipe out these companies to the point the share holders hold the leadership accountable or nothing will change.
Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
181–190 of 501 posts
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#182I think worse than social media nowadays is youtube shorts. That thing is so addictive to kids. I wish there was a way to delete shorts from youtube and have only long form videos available in the app.
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#183Meta has warped society to think that life is meaningless without affirmation. No amount of money can fix that or punish them. I think that sharing things can be wonderful, but monetizing that or adding Like counts to gamify it is very damaging to people. This idea that everyone should know better and take a ideological stand against some dumb app is ridiculous. Life can be hard at times, and these apps manipulated t…
>Meta has warped society to think that life is meaningless without affirmation. No, Meta just amplified it to the nth degree. Humanity has always put an outsized emphases on such affirmation, whether it's reputation, status, belonging, approval, prestige, attractiveness, respectability, yadda yadda yadda. Consumer culture and mass media were already firmly entrenched and doing a damn good job of turning those into vi…
Social media strips all that away to the point where affirmation costs no effort to give but also means nothing. Here's a test I like to recommend: don't post anything on HN, X, or Facebook for a month. See how many people notice or reach out and ask if you're OK. The most likely answer is zero. Hundreds or thousands of "friends", zero meaningful return.
This also makes us feel that we constantly need to work for these affirmations. If you don't post, no one likes you. This is not a Facebook problem, but Facebook built its business around it, so they deserve to be singled out.
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#184Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are we going to pretend that internet did not expose inappropriate content to children prior to Facebook?
who is pretending this? the two scenarios below are not the same. surely you see this, right? scenario 1: some interesting chemicals exist in a warehouse in the middle of a cornfield in iowa. scenario 2: a person picks up some interesting chemicals from a warehouse in the middle of a cornfield in iowa, compiles some of them into highly addictive packaging, brings them to a child’s room in phoenix, pokes the kid to tr…
The comment I’m replying to:
> still feels like they got away easy for raping children's minds
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#186Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#187>Meta will impose daily usage limits and restrict nighttime usage by children who use Facebook and Instagram, and enhance measures to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content. Even if we assume children don't find a way around this, they will simply switch to a different social media app after their two hours are up, or switch to an app that doesn't have the two hour limit at all. This is clearly a rule…
Like imagine if they all flock to 4chan, or similar.
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that ad-hoc legal action and regulations are just stop gap measures in a losing battle, and that any remedy needs to be more foundational. For example: mandate that every job description in any private corporation include a list of ethics responsibilities, and that employees may challenge management directives that in their view breach those responsibilities, and if m…
Not to sound too cynical but it's extremely hard to imagine that ever passing into law in the places which need it most.
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Two hours is one hour too long if you ask me. This should be implemented also for adults. And non-avoidable.
You think the state should restrict what adults do on their phones?
Re: Meta reaches $17B settlement over social media harms to children
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that ad-hoc legal action and regulations are just stop gap measures in a losing battle, and that any remedy needs to be more foundational. For example: mandate that every job description in any private corporation include a list of ethics responsibilities, and that employees may challenge management directives that in their view breach those responsibilities, and if m…
Laws don’t stop people from doing what they want to do. It is incredibly naive to believe so