As opening statements kicked off Tuesday in a trial for Meta Platforms, advocates and parents of social media victims gathered outside the federal courthouse in Oakland, California, with a banner that stretched several feet across. Written on it in black ink were the names of children and young adults who have died from social media...Read More
A former Meta employee testified that the company prioritized its financial interests over the safety of children, as a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of harming young users’ mental health continues in the U.S. The trial, presided over by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, continued Wednesday at the district court in Oakland, California, after opening the...Read More
A multi-state court case against the parent company of Facebook and Instagram that opens Tuesday could have far-reaching effects for how kids interact with social media. In this portion of the multi-district litigation, California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey claim Meta violated the privacy of children and has developed and deployed “psychologically manipulative” features on...Read More
Instagram says users must be at least 13. Arturo Béjar says the company knew that rule was routinely broken. The former Meta engineering director told a federal court in Oakland that “tens of thousands” of children under 13 had surfaced in his research and that their presence on Instagram was “common knowledge” inside the company....Read More
Online gaming platform Roblox has given a court-enforceable undertaking to Australia’s online safety regulator to do more “to protect children from grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse”. The agreement comes after the eSafety commissioner discovered adults were still able to see child accounts on Roblox, as well as sending requests to connect. This followed almost two...Read More
Meta intentionally hooked and exploited children, a US federal court heard Tuesday as a landmark trial seeking to hold Meta accountable for the alleged harm its social media platforms cause children began in California. Four US states, California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, argue the company misled the public about the safety of Instagram and Facebook and...Read More
Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown speaks at start of trial against Meta (YouTube) Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown spoke out last week on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from the country suing social media giant Meta, as the trial for their case finally got underway on Aug. 18. The state...Read More
SCREENS & TEENS. On Sept. 10 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Davies Student Center (77 Roosevelt Ave., Eau Claire), Mayo Clinic Health System invites community members to its annual Imagine Lecture. The free-to-attend event will be led by Dr. Angela Mattke, to discuss screen time and media habits for children and teens. (Photo via...Read More
Actor-singer and UNICEF India National Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana has drawn attention to the safety and educational challenges faced by children in rural Maharashtra. During a visit to a village in Jalna district, Khurrana received letters from local girls describing how poor road conditions contribute to school dropouts, especially among female students. The visit was part...Read More
Arturo Bejar, a vocal critic of Meta’s safety record, made the allegation during his second day of testimony in a landmark trial over claims brought by a coalition of states that could reshape Facebook and Instagram, some of the most popular apps on the planet. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey accuse Meta of designing...Read More
