Meta 同意支付 180 亿美元和解未成年人安全诉讼

Olivia, I want to. I want to start with you. Because for years you have been reporting on social media and kids. I'm wondering what today's settlement means to you and to the families of so many of the people you've spoken to. Well, thank you so much for the question, Tim. I mean, today is a huge day. It's landmark. It's historic. We are seeing words like this come up in these headlines. This is a reckoning for the social media industry and for the families who have been pushing and fighting for change.

This day has been long awaited and they are celebrating right across the country. We're going to get to what specifically are some of those changes? Uh, before we do that, though, I do want to bring in Ed Ludlow. He's the host of Bloomberg Tech. Ed, earlier on your program Bloomberg Technology Bloomberg Tech, you spoke to West Virginia Attorney General JB McCluskey exclusively. Here's a little bit of what he told you.

It gives us incentive to make sure that our children are being protected in the same ways on those platforms as they are on on meta. And it gives meta the incentive to make sure that their competitors are also following the same guidelines that we placed in their lap with this settlement. And so it really is sort of a masterclass in how to settle a lawsuit and how to make sure that both sides have skin in the game. And that's exactly where I want to bring you in.

And this idea that there were multiple states that wanted to or that have potentially settled with Metta at this point, the guardrails that will be implemented on the platform. What do we know about those? Yeah, I think, you know, what's dramatic is that this settlement was reached mid trial. And the point that that Attorney General Makowski is making is that they got the outcome that they wanted and were pursuing through that trial and that is that, uh, Metta is making very significant operational changes and policy changes to both Facebook and Instagram that codify and limit the number of hours, literally, that somebody aged 13 to 17 can can use the platform so that the basic cap is a two hour time limit.

Um, you know, you and I are both fathers, right, Tim? But my kids are not teenage. You know, can you imagine that the idea that you say to somebody age 13, 17, you have maximum two hours a day on this? That seems. Seems anything out? Yeah, right. That seems crazy. Well, he goes on to say is that, you know, this is completely contingent on parents buying into these changes. But the big a point that he was referring to then in the first part of his answer is that meta has made some of the penalty that his agreed to pay in the settlement $5 billion worth, contingent on its peers prescribing to that same framework that same set of changes, most namely TikTok and YouTube.

But it would extend to snap as well. So you're basically saying to entire industry, you need to convince 13 to 17 year olds to abide by these limits and get the parents to enforce them. I can't even get my my kids to empty the dishwasher a little soon. Forget that. But it takes me like kids are savvy, you know what I mean? Like, I know kids who can hack into their parents cameras and delete video from, like, wherever.

Like, kids are savvy. way. So I want to turn. I know just what you're in store for. Olivia, I got to turn it to you and ask, is this really, um, a solution? And and and how long are these changes and regulations and guardrails? How long before they take effect? Well, I think that's a great question. And I think that's something that the plaintiff's attorneys, um, are all looking at is are these changes actually going to be implemented by the companies, and how effective are they going to be?

We've seen countries around the world enforce bans on social media in recent months, and we've also seen reporting, showing that some of those bands have been an effective or children had found a way to get around the bans. I think that the long term effect is a positive one, a net positive one, that kids are hopefully not going to be as addicted to these products. And I think that's what's important here, is these changes are going to be rolled out, you know, from from now, from the point that the settlement has been announced, the company is going to be making these changes.

It's announced that it's hoping others in the industry are going to be following suit, too. And we're going to say the, the effect on teenagers and coming years. And I think what's going to be remarkable as we think about this as a moment in time is that the previous five years think about the way in which teenagers used were addicted or manipulated by social media, and then look five years from now and think about how kids are going to be using and interacting with these products.

And I think that's what these parents have been calling for and fighting for for so long. And so the big question is what happens now? So I think everybody's watching now. And I want to turn it to you there though. What happens now for men. I mean, this is not an admission of of liability at all. The company is still saying they're they're not, uh, not guilty of this. Yeah. So even in the filing that, um, outlines the settlement, you know, meta continues to deny the allegations made against it.

What it has signed up and agreed to do is have a an independent auditor, essentially a third party monitor, compliance. But, you know, this is what, um, Attorney General Mikulski was getting at the soundbite you played. They are from this point. Going to put absolute emphasis on this only working if other technology companies, um, literally commit to the same framework and they will continue to say that. And that is what, uh, Mr.

McCluskey was getting at in it, you know, being in metas interest or, you know, uh, to pursue things along that line, you know, in industry shift. But again, you know, this thing I find so fascinating, you know, we posted this reporting on Instagram and on Facebook in the last couple of hours, where all the responses that from parents and parents weighing in on their enforcement of this change. And Olivia quite rightly points out, it's from now, you know, this is an agreement reached in the context of a court settlement and not to be lost on what you said that they're they're posting about this on the social media platforms that are owned by meta and that are, you know, partly at issue here.

Olivia, I want to end with you because, again, your reporting has, um, I think it's fair to say, really changed the conversation, not just here in the United States, but internationally About the effect of social media on kids. It's been award winning reporting. It's been recognized by organizations all over. We're grateful to have you join us on a day where I know you're actually off today. So thank you for doing that.

Um, the regulatory overhang partly removed today. I know the ball is in the court of some of these other social media companies in the last minute that we have with you. Where does the story not just for meta, but for these other companies go from here now? Well, don't forget that this is just one bucket of the litigation. So the state attorneys general have filed suit, but so have 1300 school districts, tribes, other entities across the US, including thousands of personal injury cases.

So the litigation has ceased for the state AGS, but it is ongoing in many other realms. And so all those four defendants that have been mentioned today mirror, TikTok, snap and YouTube are still facing thousands of lawsuits up to billions of dollars in damages. This is just the beginning of the settlement conversation.