Meta Fined $375M for Child Safety; Polyamory Labeled ‘Harem’ Trend

Meta Faces Major Fine Over Child Safety Failures

Social media giant Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has been ordered to pay $375 million in civil penalties. A jury in New Mexico found that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and misled users about the safety of its apps. This verdict enabled incidents of child sexual exploitation, according to the jury.

Meta has stated it will appeal the ruling. While $375 million may seem like a small amount for a company of Meta’s size, the verdict is significant. This New Mexico trial could be the first of many, with potential for similar lawsuits and fines in other states and countries. Experts believe this could lead to billions of dollars in penalties globally.

Social Media Designed for Addiction, Prosecutors Argue

The trial’s outcome confirms what many users have suspected: social media sites are designed to be addictive. The bright colors and engaging interfaces are particularly aimed at children, drawing them into a digital world. Parents are increasingly concerned as their children feel left out of social circles if they are not active on these platforms.

Sunday Times columnist Hadley Freeman highlighted how tech companies have long claimed that the online world is simply the new reality. They argued that people who complain are just out of touch. However, this verdict serves as a stark reminder that these online environments were not an accident. They were deliberately designed, with algorithms created to lure users in and build this complex, often troubling, digital landscape.

Parents Reeling as Children Get Hooked on Apps

Many parents, who were early adopters of social media in their own 20s, found it natural for their children to follow suit. They were already spending significant time on these platforms themselves. Now, these parents are realizing the mistake, seeing their young children, some as young as six, posing for selfies with filters on apps like Instagram.

The current situation is a wake-up call. It’s a chance to hold the leaders of these tech companies accountable. As Freeman put it, “The world is like this now, but it doesn’t have to be, and we should make the world how we want it to be.” This sentiment is echoed by a new government pilot program in Britain, which is beginning to test a ban on social media for teenagers.

UK Pilots Social Media Ban for Teenagers

Starting today, hundreds of British teenagers will participate in a six-week trial. This initiative aims to explore the impact of restricting social media access for young people. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall discussed her own screen time on Times Radio, admitting to 5 hours and 22 minutes per day. She found this figure unacceptable.

When asked if the focus should be on adults as well, Freeman drew a parallel to cigarettes. She recalled how smoking was common in the 1960s and 70s, only for its dangers to be later confirmed. Strict guidelines and public awareness campaigns followed. Freeman believes we are at a similar point with social media and smartphones. She admitted to being on her phone constantly, even while serving on a smartphone-free childhood committee at her child’s school, trying to save her own children from the addiction she herself experiences.

Polyamory Criticized as Modern ‘Harem’ Culture

Hadley Freeman also discussed the normalization of polyamory in progressive circles. She explained that polyamory, essentially meaning sleeping with whoever you want while in a committed relationship, has become a common theme in prestige dramas. However, Freeman argues that this trend often hides a regressive reality.

She pointed to books and shows about open marriages where, in practice, the husband has multiple partners while the wife learns to accept it. Freeman finds this indistinguishable from Andrew Tate’s boasts about his “harem” or fundamentalist religions where men have multiple wives. She stated, “It seems to me men will always find excuses to sleep around, and there are a lot of women who have too low self-esteem to stop them.”

Feminist Roots and Modern Realities

Freeman referenced feminist Andrea Dworkin, who in the 1980s observed that the sexual liberation of the 1960s mainly liberated male sexual aggression. Freeman sees a similar dynamic repeating with new trends in gender relations, which appear progressive but are actually regressive.

The discussion touched on how pornography has become normalized online, linking back to Meta’s role. Freeman finds this normalization “disgusting and outrageous.” She cited a New York magazine article about polyamorous marriages where women noted that husbands were still having affairs while wives stayed home with the children. Freeman concluded that this is “basically the same as it has always been,” despite attempts to frame it as progressive.

Source: Polyamory ‘Trend’ No Different Than Andrew Tate’s ‘Harem’ Bragging | Hadley Freeman (YouTube)