Meta and TikTok Have Been Secretly Paying Millions of Dollars to Teens to Keep Their Experiences Out of Court
futurism.com
Meta and TikTok secretly paid off a dozen teen plaintiffs in settlements most of which ranged anywhere from $2 million to $2.5 million.
  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    2 hours ago

    This is why there should be laws around this kind of thing. Take these out of civil court and into criminal court. And jail the executives who knew they were harming minors.

  • Beej Jorgensen@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    20·
    44 minutes ago

    Bloomberg:

    The world’s biggest social media companies have reached a dozen confidential settlements in recent months with teen plaintiffs over claims the platforms damaged their mental health. The payouts were secret, but Bloomberg Businessweek has learned that most ranged from $2 million to $2.5 million.

    And in just the past two weeks, Meta Platforms Inc. agreed to pay two of these teens a combined $7 million, according to people familiar with the payments who didn’t want to be identified discussing confidential information.

    Bloomberg says they settle to keep it out of court to avoid a admitting wrongdoing. And it’s worth it to them at millions of dollars per claim.

    Really interesting symbiosis with teens pocketing easy millions and far-too-rich social media corporations being more than willing to pay it to protect their profits.

    • Mikrochip@feddit.orgEnglish
      3·
      1 hour ago

      I can’t blame them for taking the money, honestly. A fraction of that would would be life changing for most people, myself included. I don’t think I would be able to resist the temptation.

    • hypnicjerk@piefed.socialEnglish
      181·
      4 hours ago

      what a terrible article.

      A single $2 million settlement, reached with one teen, is a fraction of the $18 billion

      1/10000 is certainly a fraction but that’s misleading use of language at best.

      absolutely no mentions of how these payouts and potential liabilities compare to their profits over the relevant timeframes.

      it constantly ends paragraphs with a leading thought and then drops it by the start of the next one.

      just corposlop shit.

  • Victor@lemmy.worldEnglish
    81·
    4 hours ago

    If this is settlements, I don’t think settlements should be a thing. If someone did something sufficiently illegal, there should be a trial and shit.

    • Triumph@fedia.io
      8·
      2 hours ago

      Civil suits seek damages. Agreeing to a settlement means that you accept the compensation as sufficient to cover the damages, and you’re not taking on the additional cost (financial and mental) of trial, or taking the risk that you’ll lose or be awarded less.

      The comparison in a criminal case would be the plea deal.

    • Hugucinogens@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      5·
      3 hours ago

      Justice system is trash by design.

      The only way to right a wrong is to have an individual private party, decide and pay out of pocket to make a legal attack against someone.

      That’s horseshit.