We rarely bring topics to your attention that extend beyond the field of law, which is our professional focus. However, we consider this report from abroad to be so important that we are sharing it with you via our articles.
In the United States, Meta has reached a major court settlement with 51 state attorneys general, with a potential value of up to USD 17.1 billion. Importantly, Meta has not admitted liability or wrongdoing.
More interesting than the headline figure, however, are the new requirements concerning Facebook and Instagram users under 18:
- a default two-hour daily time limit,
- overnight access restrictions,
- limits on notifications,
- mandatory breaks,
- stronger age-assurance measures,
- and the option of a non-personalized feed that is not optimized for endless scrolling.
We consider the last point to be the most important.
It is not enough to tell children: “Use social media less.”
We should also be able to tell platforms: “You cannot claim to protect children while simultaneously optimizing their attention to keep them online for as long as possible.”
And this is not just an American issue.
However, it is not only the US that is addressing this issue. Back in July, the European Commission provisionally concluded that Meta may be in breach of the Digital Services Act precisely because of the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook – including infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and personalised recommendations.
The US settlement may therefore offer one possible indication of where regulation could be heading.
As far as we’re concerned, protecting children from addictive social-media design is a form of regulation that makes sense. And the sooner we can get the balance right – effectively and proportionately – the better.