The Meta Settlement: A Hollow Victory for Families Devastated by Social Media The recent $18 billion settlement between Meta and 29 US states has been hailed as a historic victory, but for families who have lost children to social media harms, it's a hollow one.
The agreement may have spared Meta from potentially disastrous fines, up to $200 billion, and forced changes to its products and business practices, but it has denied grieving parents the opportunity to expose the company's internal knowledge of harm caused by its platforms.
Erin Popolo, whose 17 year old daughter Emily took her own life after being cyberbullied on social media, stood outside a US federal court in Oakland last week, asking a poignant question: "What evidence did they not want to get out?