Mark Zuckerberg Grilled On Usage Goals and Underage Users At California Trial (wsj.com) 20
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg faced a barrage of questions about his social-media company's efforts to secure ever more of its users' time and attention at a landmark trial in Los Angeles on Wednesday. In sworn testimony, Zuckerberg said Meta's growth targets reflect an aim to give users something useful, not addict them, and that the company doesn't seek to attract children as users. [...] Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the plaintiff, repeatedly asked Zuckerberg about internal company communications discussing targets for how much time users spend with Meta's products. Lanier showed an email from 2015 in which the CEO stated his goal for 2016 was to increase users' time spent by 12%. "We used to give teams goals on time spent and we don't do that anymore because I don't think that's the best way to do it," Zuckerberg said on the witness stand in sworn testimony.
Lanier also asked Zuckerberg about documents showing Meta employees were aware of children under 13 using Meta's apps. Zuckerberg said the company's policy was that children under 13 aren't allowed on the platform and that they are removed when identified. Lanier showed an internal Meta email from 2015 that estimated 4 million children under 13 were using Instagram. He estimated that figure would represent approximately 30% of all kids aged 10 to 12 in the U.S. In response to a question about his ownership stake in Meta, which amounts to roughly more than $200 billion, Zuckerberg said he has pledged to donate most of his money to charity. "The better that Meta does, the more money I will be able to invest in science research," he said.
[...] On the stand, Zuckerberg was also asked about his decision to continue to allow beauty filters on the apps after 18 experts said they were harmful to teenage girls. The company temporarily banned the filters on Instagram in 2019 and commissioned a panel of experts to review the feature. All 18 said they were damaging. Meta later lifted the ban but said it didn't create any filters of its own or recommend the filters to users on Instagram after that. "We shouldn't create that content ourselves and we shouldn't recommend it to people," Zuckerberg said. But at the same time, he continued, "I think oftentimes telling people that they can't express themselves like that is overbearing." He also argued that other experts had thought such bans were a suppression of free speech. By focusing on the design of Meta's apps rather than the content posted in them, the case seeks to get around longstanding legal doctrine that largely shields social-media companies from litigation. At times, the case has veered into questions of content, prompting Meta's lawyers to object.
Lanier also asked Zuckerberg about documents showing Meta employees were aware of children under 13 using Meta's apps. Zuckerberg said the company's policy was that children under 13 aren't allowed on the platform and that they are removed when identified. Lanier showed an internal Meta email from 2015 that estimated 4 million children under 13 were using Instagram. He estimated that figure would represent approximately 30% of all kids aged 10 to 12 in the U.S. In response to a question about his ownership stake in Meta, which amounts to roughly more than $200 billion, Zuckerberg said he has pledged to donate most of his money to charity. "The better that Meta does, the more money I will be able to invest in science research," he said.
[...] On the stand, Zuckerberg was also asked about his decision to continue to allow beauty filters on the apps after 18 experts said they were harmful to teenage girls. The company temporarily banned the filters on Instagram in 2019 and commissioned a panel of experts to review the feature. All 18 said they were damaging. Meta later lifted the ban but said it didn't create any filters of its own or recommend the filters to users on Instagram after that. "We shouldn't create that content ourselves and we shouldn't recommend it to people," Zuckerberg said. But at the same time, he continued, "I think oftentimes telling people that they can't express themselves like that is overbearing." He also argued that other experts had thought such bans were a suppression of free speech. By focusing on the design of Meta's apps rather than the content posted in them, the case seeks to get around longstanding legal doctrine that largely shields social-media companies from litigation. At times, the case has veered into questions of content, prompting Meta's lawyers to object.
A two bladed sword (Score:5, Insightful)
On one side, Zuckerberg enables addiction.
On the other hand, parents are not parenting.
Both sides must compromise. As much as Meta is a moneymaking machine its users give it all for free, hoping to earn attention.
Seriously who cares? (Score:4)
What the twat says
Mark Zuckerberg Grilled (Score:5, Funny)
A good idea, but I wouldn't eat it.
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I don't know... I've been wanting to try lab grown meat; it's not like it would be cannibalism, he's not human.
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I don't know... I've been wanting to try lab grown meat; it's not like it would be cannibalism, he's not human.
I prefer to at least have a vague idea what the species of my meat is. Until we identify his species, I wouldn't try a bite.
Something useful? (Score:1)
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You can do it with ublock origin https://www.reddit.com/r/uBloc... [reddit.com]
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The other view (Score:2)
Nice and bland with the thumb pretty heavily on the "make him not look predatory" side.
You could also read slightly less [rollingstone.com] obsequious [wired.com] reporting elsewhere.
Court Room Man, Court Room Man (Score:3)
What's he done wrong, what's he done right?
Nobody knows, court room maaan.
Here we go again (Score:2)
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But imagine if everyone were like you. No one would ever use paragraphs.
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I find it interesting that supposedly technically literate people, particularly from Gen X, don't understand how the world is different from when they grew up. There were no machine learning algorithms on ICQ recommending the next chat room for you to join. MySpace didn't have endless reels to scroll. IRC wasn't min-maxing the attention economy.
Wake up - the world is different. Your anecdote is not valid at the population level. Just because you turned out fine (arguable, based on what we read here), d
Hard to Care (Score:2)
I can only go by the summary since the article is paywalled, but the first point is the only one that really seems worth digging into. Expanding on that does seem important; how are you getting people to interact? What does that process look like in terms of how that interaction works? What is the temperature of those people who engage further? Though they say that don't do that anymore...
It's difficult for me to care about children using social media. The internet was just coming into being when I was a y
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Yep, no need to remember bang paths any more.
Political grandstanding (Score:3)
Most politicians are technologically illiterate.
Nothing will come of this.
Zuckerberg needs prison! (Score:2)