Noeline Blackwell

Speaking in response to the settlement announced yesterday Noeline Blackwell, online safety coordinator at the Children’s Rights Alliance, said: “The settlement is the next instalment in a blockbuster series of lawsuits being levelled against big tech and social media companies by US states. These are significant for those of us campaigning in Ireland and across Europe for a safer online world for children and young people.”

“This billion-dollar settlement shows that when governments prioritise public good and public health to challenge the might of big business, they have the power to win.

“This speedy settlement in the early days of the case suggests that the financial and reputational risk and cost of settlement is now less than the risks of continuing the harmful practices it has agreed to change. While Meta stops short of admitting any wrongdoing, in settling, it concedes that it knows its products are fundamentally not safe enough.”

“Meta has agreed to measures almost immediately for the US. It wants their co-defendants, YouTube and Tik Tok to do the same. However, while the additional restrictions, the time limits, the filters ban and night-time blocks are all positive for children and young people, the settlement fails to require the company to ensure that recommendation algorithms are off by default.

“The very algorithms and addictive design patterns that pull children down rabbit holes and into the reach of predators. So, the work to stop the relentless targeting and profiting off young people by these companies does not end with this case.”

“This and other US cases have also shown the developing legal understanding of the shields that previously made big tech companies impervious to the harmful risks they run. Not for the first time in recent months, these cases questioned the original legal understanding of company responsibility.”

“Over three decades, the basic law was that company platforms were neutral, and not responsible for what was uploaded on them. Now, lawyers are questioning whether that basic shield can hold given the time, thought and vast financial resources that tech expends on building ever more user engagement. This review is welcome and should lead to greater review in Europe and elsewhere and, to a greater focus on the systems and content of platforms as products that should be safe to use, as is the standard for most other European products.”