And unpublished experiment social media addiction took place Wednesday in California and concluded that Meta and YouTube were negligent for creating addictive systems that harmed a child, and ordered them to pay $3 million in damages.
As part of its investigation into Snapchat, the European Union could fine Snapchat’s parent company up to 6% of its annual global sales if it is found to have broken EU digital laws.
A Snapchat spokesperson said in a statement that “the safety and well-being of all Snapchatters is a top priority” and that, from Snapchat’s design, “privacy and security are built in from the start, with additional protections for teens.”
“As cyber risks emerge, we continue to review, strengthen and invest in these safeguards,” the spokesperson continued, adding that the company has “fully cooperated with the Commission to date” and “will continue to do so throughout the investigation.”
Is age verification too easy?
Brussels said its investigation will focus on several factors, including determining whether the platform does enough to assess the age of its users, which Snap does through self-reporting. In different results were revealed on ThursdayThe commission considered that self-disclosure used by four pornographic sites – which ask users to tick a box to declare their age – was not enough to protect children.
Snap’s age verification system, which lets you know if children under 13 are on the platform, could be one of the “weakest on the market”, noted a senior Commission official. The danger to Snap regarding age verification is twofold, he continued: kids are pretending to be adults, and adults are also pretending to be kids to reach kids.
