 "Zuckerberg knew Facebook and Instagram were addictive and harmful to children, did nothing")
Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has faced a growing number of allegations that the company knew about the harmful effects of their social media products had on children and young teens. From allegations that it caused body image issues in young women, to complaints that it lead young teens to suicide.
One would imagine that Mark Zuckerberg, would go out of the way to ensure that his platforms would not harm their users, especially teenagers and children. Well, as it turns out, that’s not exactly the case.
Mark Zuckerberg knew that Facebook and Instagram were addictive
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was told about his platforms’ harmful impacts on children and teenagers and chose to ’turn a blind eye,’ new court documents have revealed.
The statements, which were earlier suppressed and recently released as part of a case brought in February 2023, indicate that workers and engineers were aware of several severe problems and vulnerabilities, according to Bloomberg.
**Also read: Scientist decode why Facebook is so addictive: Seeing the logo is enough to trigger pleasurable feelings**According to the document, Zuckerberg was directly warned: ‘We are not on pace to achieve for our key well-being subjects (problematic use, bullying & harassment, connections, and SSI), and are subject to greater regulatory risk and external critique.
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View All‘These impact everyone, particularly youth and creators, and if not handled, will follow us into the Metaverse.’
According to the most recent information, Meta defunded its mental health team, while Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s vice president of privacy and public policy, stated in court in 2021 that ’the safety and well-being of the teenagers on our network is a top concern for the business.’
Intentionally made the app to be highly addictive
‘The assertion that we defunded work to support people’s well-being is untrue; in fact, because this is such a priority for our business, we actually increased funding, as evidenced by the over 30 tools we give to support teenagers and families,’ a Meta representative told DailyMail.com. Hundreds of employees are now collaborating across the business to develop features to that effect.’
According to the complaint, which was filed in Oakland, more than a third of 13- to 17-year-old children report using one of the Defendants’ applications ‘almost continuously,’ and acknowledge this is ’too much.’
**Also read: Instagram’s algorithm officially listed as the cause of death in a court case in the UK**It has been a long-running lawsuit, initiated by many parents who say their children have been harmed by Facebook and Instagram.
The complaints, which were later consolidated into several class actions, claimed that Meta’s social media platforms were intentionally designed to be dangerously addictive, causing children and teenagers to consume content that increases the risk of sleep disorders, eating disorders, depression, and suicide.
According to the case, teens and toddlers are more susceptible to the negative impacts of social media.
According to the filing, one Meta employee wrote in 2021, ‘No one gets up thinking they want to optimise the number of times they open Instagram that day.
‘But that is precisely what our product teams are attempting.’
Cecilia Tesch of Pueblo says that her daughter, dubbed ‘RF’ in court documents, became addicted to the social media site at the age of seven, leading to the development of an eating problem.
She filed a suit in 2020, along with Oregon resident Brittney Doffing.
Doffing is fighting Snap and Meta for supposedly making her daughter into an aggressive mobile phone addict with an eating problem who has had numerous psychiatric admissions in the last few years.
How Meta has responded to criticism on addiction
In the last year, Meta has made strides in assisting teenagers and children on Facebook and Instagram, particularly in safeguarding them from predators.
The business will implement privacy adjustments for all customers under the age of 16 in November 2022.
A ‘suspicious’ account, according to the company’s blog about the new options, is one that belongs to an adult and may have recently been blocked or reported by a young person.
Meta also stated that it created tools to urge teenagers to report accounts on Facebook that make them uncomfortable. Instagram, for its part, alerts users when they have been in the app for an extended period of time, urging them to take a break.
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