73
submitted 10 months ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/technology@beehaw.org

While social media firms have long faced scrutiny from Congress and civil rights organizations over their impact on young users, the new wave of lawsuits underscores how parents are increasingly leading the charge, said Jim Steyer, an attorney and founder of Common Sense media, a non-profit that advocates for children’s online safety.

“This is a major shift from where we were a decade ago,” he said. “People see the impact on their own children, they know the platforms are intentionally designed to addict their kids into harmful stuff, and they are fed up. The tide has turned.”

top 3 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] doylio@lemmy.ca 22 points 10 months ago

Good! We need to hold these companies accountable. Around the mid 2010s they realized that it's more profitable to have addicts instead of users. Casinos, bars, and cigarette sellers are forbidden from selling to children. These addictive platforms should be subject to similar limitations

[-] theluddite@lemmy.ml 17 points 10 months ago

Whenever one of these stories come up, there's always a lot of discussion about whether these suits are reasonable or fair or whether it's really legally the companies' fault and so on. If that's your inclination, I propose that you consider it from the other side: Big companies use every tool in their arsenal to get what they want, regardless of whether it's right or fair or good. If we want to take them on, we have to do the same. We call it a justice system, but in reality it's just a fight over who gets to wield the state's monopoly of violence to coerce other people into doing what they want, and any notions of justice or fairness are window dressing. That's how power actually works. It doesn't care about good faith vs bad faith arguments, and we can't limit ourselves to only using our institutions within their veneer of rule of law when taking on powerful, exclusively self-interested, and completely antisocial institutions with no such scruples.

[-] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The thing about social media companies is we all have one important power. Just uninstall the app. I agree they suck in so many ways.

Kids though... There are a few things that make me glad I do not have any. Cell phones and social media. They just seem problematic. Not sure anyone under the age of 16 should have either or be on an unfiltered net connection.

Really no one that does not know the standard net rule of block and move on and never share PII should be on the net. I would hope that a 16 year old would know that but maybe not.

Very sad.

this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2024
73 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

37708 readers
396 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS