Social media addiction lawsuit: Mark Zuckerberg wanted to cooperate with Apple
A lawsuit in Los Angeles questions whether Instagram & Co. could be as bad as smoking. Interesting details are coming to light.
Mark Zuckerberg during an interrogation.
(Image: FotoField / Shutterstock.com)
Meta had proposed a collaboration with Apple for better protection of children and adolescents on smartphones. This emerged from emails between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook, which came to light as part of a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles. A user has sued Meta, alleging that it has designed its services to be addictive.
Joint action with Apple?
Zuckerberg confirmed the exchange upon inquiry from one of his company's defense attorneys. He said it was about discussing the well-being of young people and children with Cook. “I thought there were opportunities that our company and Apple could be doing and I wanted to talk to Tim about that.” Zuckerberg stated that the well-being of teenagers and children who used Meta's services was important to him.
The plaintiff, who appears in the proceedings only under the initials KGM, accuses Meta, among other things, of deliberately promoting addiction. With the other services, TikTok and Snapchat, which had also been sued, there had previously been an out-of-court settlement. Meta had not yet succeeded in this.
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iCloud: Pressure from West Virginia
Meta's lawyers intend to use the correspondence with Cook to show that Zuckerberg wanted to better protect young users of Facebook and Instagram. The outcome of the discussions is unknown. However, Zuckerberg admitted that a ban on certain beauty filters in the Instagram app, which allegedly promoted cosmetic surgery, was apparently lifted by him. “That sounds like something I would say,” Zuckerberg said. The company did not want to be “paternalistic.” Meta's goal is for users to be able to express themselves freely.
Apple itself is currently under pressure from the US state of West Virginia. A lawsuit claims the company is not doing enough to prevent the spread of child abuse material via iCloud. The company is allegedly to be forced to scan content in advance. Apple used to do this but stopped after sharp criticism from data protection advocates.
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