Show Notes
The $17 billion settlement this week between Meta (Facebook) and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general is a big number but may be just the first step to addressing youth social media addiction, investigative reporter Susan Crabtree says.
As the mother of a tween daughter, Crabtree knows the ways kids find to sneak around restrictions on their phones, tablets, and computers. As a reporter, she knows the dangers go deeper than scrolling Instagram or watching YouTube. They are also lurking in the major game platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox.
“There’s been so much pain associated with this, such as parents coming forward after their kids have committed suicide,” Crabtree says.
Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion over 10 years — and implement broad child-safety reforms on Instagram and Facebook — under a nationwide settlement with 52 state attorneys general (AG), led by Colorado’s Phil Weiser and California’s Rob Bonta. That figure may sound massive, but it represents less than a third of one quarter’s revenue for the company and will be spread out over ten years.
The agreement resolves claims by state AGs that Meta deliberately made Instagram, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harm, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other charges. Meta will introduce safety features as part of the settlement.
“But kids are crafty and they can get around this stuff,” Crabtree says on the most recent episode of the On Background podcast.
Meta’s chief legal officer said much the same thing. “Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away. As a parent, I’m proud of both the work Meta has done to protect kids historically, and of this new groundbreaking agreement. But its success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta’s lead.”
Meta’s changes will include daily usage limits and “nighttime blocks” for teenagers who use the company’s apps, “enhanced age assurance measures” that would prevent children from using them, and the creation of additional tools for parents and guardians. But the addictive nature of these platforms remains a deep concern.
As GAI President and author Peter Schweizer previously described in his 2024 book, Blood Money, the algorithm created by China-based ByteDance that drives engagement on TikTok is classified as “a state secret, not an industrial secret,” by the Chinese Communist Party. The version of TikTok that is available in China, called Douyin, already has time limits, age restrictions, and completely shuts down at night.
For parents, the settlement is only a small victory. Critics have noted, for example, that while Meta agreed to disable the deliberately addictive push notifications sent by its apps to children, they will still be sending them outside of school hours.
“The problem is that, as parents, we’re not consuming some of these products. We’re not consuming the same YouTube sites as our kids do, or we’re not consuming these games. Some of these games, like Roblox and Minecraft, have these chat rooms where they’re getting great upon,” she tells co-host Eric Eggers. “It took me several months to realize that you cannot put parental controls on an iPad for Minecraft, but you can put them on a Switch.”
Educators and child psychologists have long been critical of social media for its effects on a child’s attention span, but there are greater threats from the gaming world. Two of the most popular game platforms geared towards kids, Minecraft and Roblox, include optional in-game chat features that have been used by child predators. Nine men were arrested in Fairfax County, Virginia this week for child exploitation and police noted they used social media and gaming platforms to troll for victims.
“There was a game that I found that allows kids with no age restriction to have AI boyfriends, and some of the boyfriends or girlfriends are gender-neutral and talk about ‘I’m slightly violent.’ They’re having AI conversations with these composite AI-generated boyfriends or girlfriends. It’s deeply disturbing,” she adds.
“I think that if Meta is going to have to be held to some account, even though it’s not as strong as we’d like, then these game companies should be held to account as well,” Crabtree says.
Eggers, also a parent of younger children, agrees. “I was involved in a documentary a few years back called ‘The Creepy Line’ about Google and Facebook, and one thing I learned is there is always a gap between the introduction of technology and government figuring out how to regulate it.”
