NPR Report: California says states, Meta agree to $17 billion settlement in child safety trial
The proposed settlement would require Meta to pay $17 billion in penalties to the states over 10 years, and to make significant changes to how its platforms operate so that they are safer for minors.
“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” Bonta said in a statement.
“Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months,” he added.
Bonta’s office also said Meta had agreed to a default time limit of two hours for users under 18 and a nighttime block between midnight and 6am, both of which can only be lifted by a parent;
default night and schooltime notification blocks; a ban on displaying the numbers of “likes” or reactions to posts made by minors; a ban on cosmetic surgery image filters for minors; and an option for young users to have a “non-personalized feed” that is not run by an algorithm targeting them with content. –more on NPR
The first emperor penguin that jumps has an entire colony to follow. This is the wave in a sea of change coming for addictive tech.
And for the fans of Jonathan Haidt’s assertions in his book ‘The Anxious Generation,’ this is a major victory for childhood development, which essentially lays the blueprint for parenting during this app addicted rewired generation.
It may be easy to be pessimistic to change like this, to even bother with what effect it may have, but this definitely huge for a young one with a developing brain that has still yet to be cemented in with adolescence.
The want(need) of the comfort blanket, that is social media, to tuck us in and keep us “safe,” is far from that. And to dismiss these ills of phone overuse as a mere way of life may very well just leave us in the same sad spirals that cause more of this problem in the first place.
It only makes sense that in a real-world setting we’ve implemented what we can to protect our minors, now it’s time to see those same restrictions in the much harmful, and less forgiving virtual world.
Let it be a wake-up call to hopefully take steps, big and small, in our own habits. A push towards better future tech habits, for ourselves and the younger ones we love. We could only be as good of an example for them if we ourselves can truly show that. It may very well begin with an honest look at our own habits.