Northwestern experts on Meta’s $17B settlement

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Northwestern experts on Meta's $17B settlement

The tech giant settled to resolve allegations of deceiving the public on platform safety

EVANSTON, Ill. - Today social media giant Meta has agreed to pay $17 billion to resolve allegations from nearly every state that the tech company purposely engineered Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children and unlawfully gathered personal information from minors.

In addition to damages, Meta has agreed to introduce time caps and overnight restrictions for teen users on their platforms, strengthen age-checking systems and expand parental controls.

This case is one of thousands of federal and state lawsuits against Meta and other social media companies, including Snap Inc., YouTube parent Alphabet and ByteDance, owner of TikTok.

The following professors are available to media:

James Speta, Elizabeth Froehling Horner Professor of Law, has research interests in telecommunications and internet policy, antitrust, administrative law and market organization. If you'd like to arrange an interview with Professor Speta, please email Shanice Harris at [email protected].

Speta on Meta's possible revenue shift:

"Public opinion has turned and has come to favor changes to the way social media companies do business, especially with respect to children. I think these restrictions will change the experience on Instagram and Facebook, and they are designed to reduce engagement. It remains yet to be seen what the effects will be - both on how people, especially children, use these platforms and how the company's revenues change if advertisers also are affected by decreased engagement."

Michael Spikes, an expert in media literacy, is director of the Teach for Chicago Journalism project at Northwestern Medill and co-founder of the Illinois Media Literacy Coalition, a collaborative of Illinois educators and scholars working to improve and build models for media literacy education in public schools. If you'd like to arrange an interview with Professor Spikes, please email Erin Karter at [email protected].

Spikes on media literacy:

"Goals of companies like Instagram and TikTok is keeping users glued to the app for as long as possible. To do that, they kept users in a cycle of chasing the next shock rather than anything that helps them think critically about what they're seeing. This is what highlights why media literacy education matters. It's the skillset that helps young people recognize when they're being engineered for engagement rather than informed."

Jane Conron, child psychologist and instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. If you'd like to arrange an interview with Professor Conron, please email Ben Schamisso at [email protected].

Conron on negative effects social media has on society:

"It's a good start. Settlements change behavior in industries and individuals. In the Meta settlement, children, teens, parents and society are the beneficiaries. This settlement will begin to reverse the negative consequences of social media apps on our society. Increased voice and in-person talking, laughing, moving and socializing means multi-sensory brains and bodies are developing. In-person relationships matter."

Sandra Waxman is the Louis W. Menk Professor of Psychology and principal investigator of the Infant and Child Development Center at Northwestern. If you'd like to arrange an interview with Professor Waxman, please email Stephanie Kulke at [email protected].

Waxman on exploitation of children's vulnerabilities:

"Developmental scientists have consistently raised the alarm about platforms intentionally designed to exploit the vulnerabilities of the developing brain with algorithmic rewards. Yet until now, we have responded by turning a blind eye, averting our eyes instead of acting as the most vulnerable among us are harmed. Let us hope that this ruling against META marks a change in our national response.

"The evidence is clear: platforms built to maximize children's and teens' engagement have put their mental health at risk -fueling anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and self-harm. Voluntary safeguards, strong warnings and parental vigilance are no match for a system engineered and reinforced by trillion-dollar incentives."

Dr. Alyssa Cohen, pediatric digital media and health expert, is the assistant professor of advanced general pediatrics and primary care at Feinberg and a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. If you'd like to arrange an interview with Professor Cohen, email Kristin Samuelson at [email protected].

Cohen on navigating the digital world:

"We're living in this digital society, so our job is to equip kids and teens with the skills they need and support their need to navigate them safely rather than avoiding them entirely. We need to listen to youth and hear their experience and give them practical guidance on how to exist in this digital world safely. A lot of kids can benefit from connection online and I think that piece shouldn't be lost."