Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Meta's teen settlement targets addictive platform design

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Meta's teen settlement targets addictive platform design · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, Facebook's parent company, the tech giant Meta, has agreed
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to pay a coalition of U.S. states up to $ 16. 7
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: billion in a landmark settlement over teen social media addiction.
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  Speaker 1: Meta also agreed to limit teenagers scrolling to two hours
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: per day and to block them from accessing the platforms
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  Speaker 1: from midnight to 6 a.m. Notifications will also be limited
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  Speaker 1: during school hours. People under the age of 18 and
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  Speaker 1: their parents will also be given the option to ditch
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  Speaker 1: the standard algorithmic feed for a chronological one, the one
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: that originally you would find on Facebook. Teens also won't
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  Speaker 1: be able to see likes and other reactions on posts.
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  Speaker 1: A short while ago, we spoke with Eric Goldman. He's
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  Speaker 1: a law professor and co-director of the High Tech Law
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  Speaker 1: Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law in California.
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  Speaker 1: We asked him for his assessment of this settlement.
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  Speaker 2: This settlement is quite significant in legal terms because META
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  Speaker 2: is agreeing to make a number of changes that it
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  Speaker 2: has to date resisted. And the case resolves one of
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  Speaker 2: the largest legal threats that META is facing. However, it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't resolve all of META's legal entanglements. So in that sense,
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  Speaker 2: this is only the first of what could be several settlements,
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  Speaker 2: or it could be that there will be additional legal
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  Speaker 2: developments that will put even greater pressure on META.
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  Speaker 3: So what should parents and young users in the U.S.
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  Speaker 3: expect to change now in practice and how soon?
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  Speaker 4: The timing of this is a little bit unclear.
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  Speaker 2: The settlement needs to be approved by the judge. And
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  Speaker 2: then after that, many of the obligations will take six
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  Speaker 2: months before they come online.
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  Speaker 4: So this is still a ways away for most users.
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  Speaker 2: But because Meta has made these concessions, odds are it's
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  Speaker 2: going to get working on this set of obligations anyway soon.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: So in that respect, it's possible that we might even
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  Speaker 2: see some of these benefits before the legally required date,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: so long as the settlement gets approved. And what's going
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  Speaker 2: to do to the user experience of that is, I think,
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  Speaker 2: really unclear. Honestly, I'm not sure that anyone except maybe
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Meta knows, but maybe Meta doesn't even know The state
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  Speaker 2: AGs have essentially forced a package of changes to Meta.
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  Speaker 4: And nobody really is clear.
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  Speaker 2: Does that end up being a net win for users,
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  Speaker 2: a net loss for users, a net win for the
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  Speaker 2: communities or not?
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  Speaker 4: There's not a lot of social science that answers that question.
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  Speaker 3: And it's interesting because, you know, many of the existing
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  Speaker 3: age verification systems are relatively easy to bypass. Is there
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  Speaker 3: a way that Meta can make sure that these safeguards
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  Speaker 3: will be effective?
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  Speaker 2: There's a whole long list of discussions about what META
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  Speaker 2: is required to do to implement age authentication with several
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  Speaker 2: different checks in the system to try to get META
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: to deliver better outcomes. What I thought was interesting is
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  Speaker 2: that the state agencies have agreed to a certain error
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  Speaker 2: rate that META could make, that at least in the
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  Speaker 2: best-case circumstances, it's expected that META is going to.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: Have at least 3% errors. But this should look different.
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  Speaker 2: Than the situation that's taking place in Australia, where my
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  Speaker 2: understanding is.
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  Speaker 4: 80% or more of minors are still on.
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  Speaker 2: The social media services that they're supposed to be banned from.
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  Speaker 2: This agreement ought to meaningfully control the behavior of most
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  Speaker 2: teens in the U.S., most minors in the U.S., but
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  Speaker 2: it will never be perfect.
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  Speaker 3: And stronger age checks, I mean, they can also require
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  Speaker 3: collecting more personal information. How can that tension be resolved?
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  Speaker 4: I don't think it can.
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  Speaker 2: And this is why I categorically oppose online age authentication,
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  Speaker 2: that at its core, it imposes a series of downsides
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  Speaker 2: for the users like privacy and security risks. It imposes
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  Speaker 2: downsides for the services like extra costs and hassles to
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  Speaker 2: get online. And ultimately, I think it imposes negative outcomes
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  Speaker 2: for the entire community, that essentially it says you have
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  Speaker 2: to prove some identity characteristic of yourself before you're allowed
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  Speaker 2: to access these This velvet rope walled off community. I
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  Speaker 2: don't think that's healthy for society. So from my perspective,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's actually wrong for the state agencies to
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  Speaker 2: be pushing for more age authentication.
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  Speaker 4: But I would agree with that for other countries as well.
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  Speaker 2: But it has become so popular among regulators that that diet.
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  Speaker 4: Has already been cast.
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  Speaker 2: Age authentication is going to be a part of our
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  Speaker 2: future online for the rest of our lives.
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  Speaker 4: For better or for worse.
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  Speaker 3: What do you think the implications will be for other
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  Speaker 3: platforms like TikTok or X?
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  Speaker 2: There's no doubt that this agreement could serve as a
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  Speaker 2: template for resolution of their liability, and Meta wants that
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  Speaker 2: to happen. Meta has provided financial incentives and other service
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  Speaker 2: changes it will make, but only if the state AGs
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  Speaker 2: will go and force Meta's competitors to agree to essentially
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  Speaker 2: the same deal. In other words, what Meta has done
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  Speaker 2: is it's deputized the state attorneys general to now go
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  Speaker 2: get its competitors to try.
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  Speaker 4: To get them onto a similar arrangement.
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  Speaker 2: So one possibility is that this has set an industry template,
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  Speaker 2: but notice that Meta alone settled it. So the industry
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  Speaker 2: is being dragged along because of Meta's concession, and I'm
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  Speaker 2: guessing they're very unhappy about that.
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  Speaker 3: And we're talking about the United States. We're talking about
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  Speaker 3: a U.S.-based company. What about other parts of the world?
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  Speaker 3: How does this settlement set a precedent beyond the U.S.?
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: Set a legal precedent, and it may or may not
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  Speaker 2: set a precedent practice.
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  Speaker 4: From Meta's standpoint, once it's agreed to make the concessions
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  Speaker 4: in the.
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  Speaker 2: U.S., it would be advantageous for Meta to offer that
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  Speaker 2: up to the countries around the globe and get them
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  Speaker 2: to agree that the changes that they're willing to make
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  Speaker 2: would be sufficient. One of the challenges that Meta faces is.
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  Speaker 4: That countries will agree that they want things like.
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  Speaker 2: The time limits or the removal of the lights or actions,
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  Speaker 2: but they want it implemented in a different way, at
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  Speaker 2: which point then Meta will.
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  Speaker 4: Have to either.
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  Speaker 2: Make changes to its services to have these different obligations satisfied,
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  Speaker 2: or it will have to break the local law and
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  Speaker 2: hope that it can avoid liability. So from a practical standpoint,
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  Speaker 2: Meta now becomes an evangelist for everything that's in its agreement.
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  Speaker 2: It wants these to become the global standards, and it
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  Speaker 2: wants the other global regulators to do just like the
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  Speaker 2: state AGs. It wants them to go out and force
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  Speaker 2: its competitors to play by those same rules.
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  Speaker 3: We've heard so often in cases like these that are
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  Speaker 3: brought against major corporations that... you know, the fines are
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  Speaker 3: something that the companies just simply shrug off because they
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  Speaker 3: are so large. Now we have, we heard that this
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  Speaker 3: case might be different, you know, given the amounts that
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: were sought by the attorneys general. And now we have,
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  Speaker 3: you know, this settlement of up to $ 16. 7 billion. What
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  Speaker 3: do you think the bottom line impact might be on Meta?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my guess is that Meta looks at that number
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  Speaker 2: as not a big deal. It would rather have that
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  Speaker 2: money in its account than in the government's account. But
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't change the fundamentals of Meta's business to write
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  Speaker 2: a check like that. And the investors, of course, have
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: been quite enthusiastic about this deal for this very reason.
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  Speaker 2: Now that it knows the liability number, the market can
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  Speaker 2: price how much this affects its business. So It's a
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  Speaker 2: big absolute number, but I think in practice, this is
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  Speaker 2: not a number that Meta really cares about.
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  Speaker 3: Eric Goldman, law professor at Santa Clara University, thank you
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  Speaker 3: so much for joining us here on DW News.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you.