Case Accuses Meta of Choosing Profit and Engagement Over Protection: Analysis

Joining us to discuss this further is Caroline Calicut, Social Media Manager for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. Caroline, thank you for joining us today. Good afternoon to you. So this case is focused on finding out whether there was intentional disregard at MEDA for the health of young social media users. So to what extent can these companies be blamed for the addictive nature of social media? I think this watershed case draws to mind early tobacco litigation. It basically comes down to whether the designers of these platforms knew that their product is harmful, and whether they have the associations and the resources to do something about it. That's what they're trying to prove in this case, that these platforms are addictive and harmful by design, and that there's something MEDA could be doing about it that they're choosing not to do to prioritize profit and engagement over protection. Okay, so Caroline, let me ask you, from your vantage point, from your experience working at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, what impacts do you see from the use of social media among young people? I think as a social media user myself, and as someone who works on social media daily, it's easy to see the impact that social media, particularly the harmful and targeted algorithms and ads have on young people. It's been proven with lots of statistics that young people are negatively affected, such as their body image. Young women have more negative views of themselves based on the algorithms that they're being pushed to on social media. Young children are just very vulnerable, so specifically targeting them on social media will have an impact on how they see themselves and how they interact with people online in years to come. So you said earlier, this could be a watershed moment. What do you foresee as the impact? Could this be a turning point? How is this going to influence how we allow online products and services to be marketed to children? I do believe this is a watershed moment, especially if meta is held accountable. This is just one small step in holding these big tech companies accountable for the harms that happen on their platform. Like I mentioned, Big Tobacco, lots of other corporations in the United States have these guardrails set up to protect people from the potential harms of their platforms. I believe this is just one small step that we can start to hold big tech accountable, have them make better safety protections and accountability protections for their platforms and the people that use it. Can you just give us some tangible things that, in your view, would actually help children? Some things that you would like to see implemented on these platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, to protect young users? I would definitely like to see super strong age restrictions. I think meta has the capability to do that with their AI technology. Whether they do or not, it comes down to what they want to do with that. Super strict age restrictions. Also, just not targeting these young people with harmful, addictive algorithms that just keep them scrolling no matter what. I think meta needs to prioritize the protection of these children. That's why Nekozi is particularly interested, because these platforms also introduce the harm of exploitation and grooming online. So protecting children on these platforms would just go a really long way in protecting them in general, online and offline. Do you think parents play a role here? What is your view on what parents should do? Parents definitely play a role. I mean, parents can try to impact how their kids use social media and if they use it, but I think it comes down to both parents being held responsible and big tech for this as well. Especially big tech, because it's their products and their platforms. Once kids get on those platforms, parents really don't have much control over how it's used. So that's why it comes down to this big tech, liability and accountability. Maybe just one final thing here. Some tips you could give us, maybe to parents, to young people. Any tips you can think of that may be useful in this circumstance? I would suggest delay is the way. Stay off of social media if you can at a young age. Parents, just be checking your children's social media to see what they're up to on these apps as much as possible. Just make sure you see what they're interacting with. Do what you can. Then hopefully, cases like this will open up a whole new door for holding big tech corporations responsible for their end of the spectrum as well. Well, all right, Caroline. Such a pleasure to speak with you. Very insightful comments. Thank you so much. Thank you.