Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement this week to resolve a lawsuit alleging harm to America’s youth. Today on The Editors, Rich asks Dan Foster what he makes of it.
“On the one hand, yes, it’s a government shakedown . . . and the lawfare aspect of it is a poor substitution for legislating,” says Dan. “On the other hand, Meta does not acknowledge any wrongdoing at all. . . . The real problem is that the settlement doesn’t do anything about their core business model and about the algorithm.”
“I’ve long thought that this issue — what rules govern our online digital lives and what rights we have as, for lack of a better word, digital citizens or digital subjects — is the biggest problem we have as a civilization right now.”
“Those issues need to be resolved at a societal level,” Dan explains. “Now, whether that’s through legislation or through social negotiation is open to debate. But those things need to be solved and people need to have a more transparent understanding of what they’re putting at stake and what they’re subjecting themselves to online.”
The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.