I’m glad the victim got reparations and I wish her the best, I’m just not very optimistic that this will translate to any meaningful change. These tech giants keep being dragged to court and charged for their unethical practices, but they just get a fine that amounts to a slap on the wrist for them because they generate revenue at such a mind-boggling rate. What lasting consequences can a court inflict on the richest people and companies in the world?

Also, as an Australian, I don’t like how the article acts like more age-verification is the answer. People’s government IDs are being leaked, and kids are actively bypassing the bans. It completely misses the point that social media is harmful for EVERYONE, not just kids. Barring kids from exposure and education just creates vulnerable future adults.

It’s ridiculously performative and insidious. It’s a bandaid on the severed artery that is the normalisation of social media in every day life - you can’t expect to suddenly curb the internet when society has been pushing it so hard in the last 30 years. Physical places are increasingly expensive and gatekept socially and legally (eg privatised or subject to loitering laws), if not shut down entirely. Technology has become the default pastime.

If governments actually care about people’s safety and welfare, they need to a) actually enforce change to these platforms’ algorithms and b) invest in community and recreational physical spaces so people stop being pigeonholed into these unhealthy online spaces in the first place.