In don’t trust big corporations at all. Greedy mammoths with deep pockets buying politicians.
Partially to blame are the parents as well who shove tech in front of the kids to shut them up.
Its a fked up timeline.
'This case is about two of the richest corporations who have engineered addiction in children’s brains' — lawsuit against Meta and YouTube could decide the fate of social media
Submitted 20 hours ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
patruelis@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
omcgo@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Get their kids to shut up, because the greedy coperations now require both parents to work sometimes multiple jobs whilst the wealth pools towards the sociopathic owners.
Toes@ani.social 11 hours ago
I was in a store and saw a toddler walking around with a $2000 phone. The mom took the phone from her just for a second. The kid screamed so loud. The kid demanded the phone back immediately. She folded and gave it back. All they were doing was watching a looping video of fish…
Ulrich@feddit.org 10 hours ago
Why does everyone talk about children as if adults aren’t susceptible to the same mechanisms?
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
You’re right that as an adult I still really want some ice cream every time I see it. But I have the life experience and mental development that enables me to control myself because I understand the negative consequences that can happen over time. Children have not developed these skills yet.
Laws have to be applied unilaterally. If you start applying these kinds of restrictions to all adults you end up like the UK and Republican states where you have to pass a job-interview-style screening to open pornhub.com.
partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago
Those skills are too far taken for granted. It’s the very reason you see increased crime and addiction in high poverty areas. Families who had good access to healthcare, education, work opportunities, … those families were privileged enough to learn the value in self control far more naturally. Families that struggled to put food on the table, parents in and out of jail, constant exposure to drug use, … those families experience a much different reality and the kids are statistically more likely to reproduce that experience in their own adult life.
Ulrich@feddit.org 7 hours ago
I have the life experience and mental development that enables me to control myself
That’s good for you but most adults clearly don’t have that either. And as you know we all reap the benefits of others’ poor choices. So fuck them? And fuck us all as a society? Fuck anyone over the age of 17?
If you start applying these kinds of restrictions to all adults you end up like the UK and Republican states where you have to pass a job-interview-style screening to open pornhub.com.
I am implying they should be applied unilaterally, not only to adults, and not only to children.
pkjqpg1h@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
Strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.
lawyers are funny
kalkulat@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
“addiction in children’s brains”
I don’t think these corporations deliberately aimed their content at any age group. Kids are not ready for alcohol or cars or pron. Did they care? Probably not.
OTOH: I recall times when parents oversaw what their children consumed. They didn’t need to buy them smartphones or laptops, and they could have enforced rulse on their use. Parenting isn’t for everyone.
roguetrick@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
YouTube explicitly has a service for children and I’m sure Facebook discovery would prove they explicitly market for children.
forrgott@lemmy.sdf.org 19 hours ago
Facebook specifically was aware that teenage girls were especially harmed by their algorithms, so naturally, instead of reducing that harm, they leaned into it.
kalkulat@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Wouldn’t doubt it if they did. BUT … PBS had services for children as well. Were Bert and Ernie or Mr. Rogers ‘addictive’? I have no idea what YT for children is like, but I wouldn’t have handed my kids over to them to babysit without checking them out … frequently.
Ulrich@feddit.org 10 hours ago
So YouTube Kids and Facebook Discovery are the only platforms in question then?
AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 18 hours ago
I don’t think these corporations deliberately aimed their content at any age group.
Instagram intentionally targeted ads at teenagers specifically when they were identified as feeling low self worth or depressed. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/09/meta-whistleblower-sarah-wynn-williams-says-company-targeted-ads-at-teens-based-on-their-emotional-state/
Instagram used this data to more effectively keep teens hooked on the app. For example, they’d show a girl who just deleted a selfie out of embarrassment more photos of attractive women, which she would then likely scroll through, attempting to internally figure out how she could become attractive like them. Coincidentally, the perfect time for Instagram to then serve an ad for a new skin cream, weight loss program, etc.
moonshadow@slrpnk.net 7 hours ago
“I don’t think these predators deliberately prey on the vulnerable” is one braindead take
a4ng3l@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Dude… kids are fucking cows to milk… in Europe we have special protections for them bundled in GDPR because they are sooooooo good targets with soooooo much potential. To give you some food for thought ; Microsoft is pushing their products as soon as schools so that kids are hooked. And they are far from being the worse….
thlibos@thelemmy.club 9 hours ago
Gee, I wonder if the corporations will win these cases?
sircac@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I love how I start to see frequently used the term of “addiction to socials” at a similar morale level of that of drugs
rumba@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
Just roll all this back 40 years and sue TV broadcasters instead :) Nothing ever changes.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
I’m afraid they‘ll get a slap on the wrist and be forced to introduce face ID or something equally harmful for users.
JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
I’m with ya. Especially with the blatant kiss assery from these two companies to the government, this headlines reads to me as “Google and Meta have agreed to give Trump even more money so that they can add even more surveillance to their products”