Facebook's Largest Fine in History.. and the Stranger's Water
What unethical practices did Meta employ that forced it to settle with the U.S. government and pay a record-breaking fine of more than $18 billion? Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, was accused of deliberately engaging in unethical practices that make children addicted to its platforms, despite the company’s awareness of the potential risks and harms. It allegedly collected vast amounts of data on children’s behavior through illegal and malicious means, causing psychological harm akin to child sexual exploitation, which led to the fine and commitments to modify its platforms. These modifications include imposing daily usage limits, blocking access during nighttime hours, and curbing excessive use by minors and those with limited cognitive maturity, who are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of the ads and messages on these platforms. Meta also pledged to stop sending notifications and alerts at night and during school hours to encourage children to take breaks from social media. Additionally, Meta will restrict features that psychologists link to negative social comparison, such as deceptive beauty filters and like-count displays, all of which fuel compulsive screen engagement.
The swift settlement was reached to help the company, valued at over $1.47 trillion, avoid negative publicity and costly legal battles with state governments. This massive settlement comes amid a broader wave of lawsuits against Meta and other tech firms concerning child safety. Meta had previously lost a case in Los Angeles related to allegations that its platforms were designed to be addictive. Consequently, it was no surprise that Meta’s revenues recently exceeded $61 billion in a single quarter, a 28% increase over the previous year.
Meta’s acceptance of the settlement may prompt other social media companies, such as Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, to implement similar settlements and product changes. The issue extends further, as several parents of teenagers have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, alleging they are damaging their children’s minds and fostering addiction. In some states, school districts have filed lawsuits accusing these companies of causing public harm due to the costs schools incurred as a result of students’ social media addiction. Meta has faced significant difficulties in some of these cases, losing its first personal injury compensation case last March. In a separate case, a judge ordered Meta to pay fines of nearly $1 billion for violating consumer protection laws.
Strangely, all this is happening, and billions are being spent and earned by these companies. If they were to disappear from the face of the earth today, little harm would occur; in fact, the opposite might be closer to the truth. It was not surprising that the stock market reacted positively to the settlement decision, after having anticipated a bloody trial and compensation claims amounting to hundreds of billions. Similar movements and cases are underway in the European Union.
*** This is what is happening in America. As for our world, fathers used to give their children “gripe water” to silence them if they continued crying, until its use was discontinued after it was found to contain alcohol. Today, when a child cries, their family gives them a mobile phone to silence them, and thus addiction begins and minds are ruined, on top of already being damaged. Ahmed Al-Sarraff
