A glorious coalition of 33 state attorneys general sued Meta the other day.
They said this:
Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its social media platforms. It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.
And this:
Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits. With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight.
Meta is disappointed:
We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path.
The path to destruction, I hope – Meta’s destruction.
4 things you should know:
1. They know they are causing harm.
According to a Wall Street Journal investigation:
Facebook Inc. knows, in acute detail, that its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm, often in ways only the company fully understands. That is the central finding of a Wall Street Journal series, based on a review of internal Facebook documents, including research reports, online employee discussions and drafts of presentations to senior management.
2. They don’t do shit about it.
According to the same investigation:
Time and again, the documents show, Facebook’s researchers have identified the platform’s ill effects. Time and again, despite congressional hearings, its own pledges and numerous media exposés, the company didn’t fix them.
I highly recommend checking out The Facebook Files by the way. Sometimes these cocksuckers actually do good work.
3. Instagram is full of pedophiles.
According to another Wall Street Journal investigation:
Instagram, the popular social-media site owned by Meta Platforms, helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content, according to investigations by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Pedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests, the Journal and the academic researchers found.
Oh yeah, pedophiles are jacking off to pictures of your adorable children – or worse.
Not good.
4. Mark Zuckerberg is a fucking scumbag.
He once said that – get this – Instagram is “generally positive for their mental health”… the mental health of teens, that is.
What a vile human being. Teen self-harm, for example, is highly correlated with social media use, especially with Instagram use, based on science; but Meta’s CEO simply denies the science, and makes shit up, and, as shown by The Wall Street Journal, won’t fix the problem.
Jonathan Haidt demolished this sinister snake on Lex Friedman’s podcast:
The top comment on this video is spot-on:
A 13 year old mind stands no chance against AI-driven algorithms. The kids get addicted to apps, and the devs get addicted to ad revenue. Such a vicious cycle.
Indeed.
