Instagram Teen Accounts<\/a>, for one, have built-in protections to limit who can contact teens and what content they can see, and give parents the ability to set time limits.<\/p>\nBrooke Istook, the president and chief strategy officer at the advocacy organization Heat Initiative, said she was glad to see the judge’s reforms will be court-supervised.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we will have someone in an official capacity checking the homework of these companies,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that we have the court now involved, they\u2019re able to evaluate how they\u2019re implemented, whether or not they\u2019re effective and whether or not they are actually working to keep kids safe online.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meta’s critics say some of the most recognizable and potentially harmful aspects of Instagram and Facebook’s designs are untouched by the ruling. <\/p>\n
Features like autoplay, infinite scroll and algorithmic content recommendations have been the prime targets of legal arguments that social media platforms are designed to be addictive. But Biedscheid wrote in his ruling that these features are used across the social media industry on other platforms, so restricting Meta’s features but not those of its competitors would harm the company. <\/p>\n
That was disappointing to see for Sophia Choukas-Bradley, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose design features have played a very important role in what leads to problematic use of social media by adolescents and, in turn, mental health problems,\u201d Choukas-Bradley said.<\/p>\n
Still, Choukas-Bradley said she was in favor of several safety measures in the ruling, especially one that orders the \u201clike counts\u201d on the apps be hidden by default on minors’ accounts, a setting that could only be overridden by a parent or guardian. She also supports a measure that would create a stronger separation between children and \u201cunconnected\u201d adults on the platforms. Meta would not be able to recommend a child’s account to an adult’s account, and adults who are not \u201cfriends\u201d or followers of a minor’s account would be barred from messaging the child. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are just too many documented cases of sextortion, sexploitation and sex trafficking that start in the online context for us to ignore this any longer,\u201d Choukas-Bradley said.<\/p>\n
It is unclear which features on social media platforms are most harmful for children’s mental health, said Sonia Livingstone, a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. There is ample evidence, however, that more vulnerable children are more susceptible to the companies’ design features, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTested one by one, the evidence for each design feature will be weaker, as it is the combination of features that really will make the difference for children\u2019s outcomes,\u201d said Livingstone, who leads the Digital Futures for Children research center.<\/p>\n
Because the measures in the judge’s order are specific to users in New Mexico, experts say piecemeal rulings and inconsistent legislation at the state level could create a new crop of issues. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt really needs to be uniform at the congressional level, it causes all sorts of problems,\u201d said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers. \u201cIt just doesn\u2019t make sense in today\u2019s era of technology.\u201d <\/p>\n
Some advocates say they hope similar rulings in other states could stir action in Congress, and spur new efforts to pass federal legislation.<\/p>\n
For parents in New Mexico, the ruling could change the conversations with their teens about social media use. Heather Statum, an Albuquerque mother of a 13-year-old girl, says her daughter is constantly requesting access to various social media platforms. <\/p>\n
Statum has heard horror-stories about predators lurking on Instagram or Snapchat. She’s also aware that among her daughter\u2019s peers, discussions of suicide and other mental health issues are prominent online and worries about her daughter being exposed to disturbing content. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe stuff (social media companies) have in place to protect them, I don\u2019t think any of it actually works,\u201d Statum said. \u201cIt does cause major problems between us because she thinks that I\u2019m too strict.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statum says the platform-level changes from the ruling could promote safe usage, but said it will be hard to balance safety with freedom. She believes educating kids on dangers is the best path forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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