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Transcript/ScriptUS SOCIAL MEDIA MENTAL HEALTH
HEADLINE: US States Suing Meta Over Alleged Harm to Young Users
TEASER: Mental health impacts of social media are unclear
PUBLISHED AT: 12/11/23, 2:43p
BYLINE: Tina Trinh
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: New York
VIDEOGRAPHER:
VIDEO EDITOR:
ASSIGNING EDITOR: Stearns
SCRIPT EDITORS: Stearns, Holly Franko, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Microsoft Teams, AP, Meta
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 3:00
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVR PKG
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO: )) [[Lawmakers and parents are blaming social media platforms for contributing to mental health problems in young people. A group of U.S. states is suing the owner of Instagram and Facebook for promoting their platforms to children despite knowing some of the psychological harms and safety risks they pose. From New York, VOA’s Tina Trinh reports that a cause-and-effect relationship between social media and mental health may not be so clear.]]
((NARRATOR))
Thirty-three U.S. states are suing Meta – the owner of Facebook ((Mandatory CG: Instagram)) and Instagram – for the social media platforms’ alleged harm to ((end courtesy)) children’s mental and physical health.
((FOR RADIO: Rob Bonta is the Attorney General of California.))
((Rob Bonta, California Attorney General))
"In seeking to bolster profits, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its products. It has concealed the ways in which Instagram and Facebook exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.”
((NARRATOR))
Attorney Matthew Bergman filed earlier social media cyberbullying cases that are now part of the multi-state lawsuit. ((Mandatory CG: Instagram)) He says social media platforms are dangerous for young people less because of their content and more for the way they’re designed ((end courtesy)) ... to promote addiction.
((Matthew Bergman, Social Media Victims Law Center)) ((Microsoft Teams no courtesy needed))
“The algorithms are explicitly designed to maximize user engagement, not give kids what they want to see, but give them what they can't look away from.” //
“It subjects them to material that they're not looking for, that makes them hate the way they look, hate their bodies, that encourages them to take risky behavior.”
((Mandatory CG: Meta))
((NARRATOR))
For its part, Meta says it offers some 30 tools and resources to help teens safeguard their privacy and well-being, ((end courtesy)) including protections against unwanted contact.
((FOR RADIO: Emily Dalton Smith is vice president of Meta’s product management.))
((Mandatory CG: Meta))
((Emily Dalton Smith, Meta Vice President of Product Management))
“So when an adult tries to message a teen who doesn’t follow them, they’ll see a notification letting them know that messaging the teen isn’t an option.”
((End Courtesy))
((NARRATOR)) ((Mandatory CG: Instagram))
Critics say the social media giant could be doing more but chooses not to. ((end courtesy)) ((Mandatory CG: US Senate Judicial Committee)) And the consequences eventually catch up with everyone, even those who worked at Meta.
((FOR RADIO: Former Facebook security engineer Arturo Bejar [“bey-HAR”] told Congress he didn’t have to go far to witness those threats.
((Arturo Bejar, Former Facebook Security Engineer))
“My 14-year-old daughter joined Instagram. She and her friends began having awful experiences, including repeated unwanted sexual advances [and] harassment ... She reported these incidents to the company, and it did nothing.” ((end courtesy))
((NARRATOR))
Not all research supports the alleged correlation between social media platforms and damage to young people’s mental health, says Wellesley College’s Linda Charmaraman [“cha-MAR-ruh-mun”].
((Linda Charmaraman, Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab Director))
“There's studies that show that there's benefits to social media use, and there's also studies that show there's no association whatsoever between your well-being and your social media use.”
((NARRATOR))
Charmaraman says her research with young people shows they want more choice when it comes to online experiences.
((Linda Charmaraman, Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab Director))
“They knew that there were these algorithms that were trying to get their attention no matter what, and they wanted to train the algorithm. They didn't want to say, ‘Get rid of the algorithm,’ they wanted to say, ‘You know what? I want you to make sure that you do show me the things that I want to see.’”
((NARRATOR))
In a separate legal action, Meta is suing the Federal Trade Commission to stop it from reopening a 2020 privacy settlement that included Meta paying $5 billion in fines for privacy violations.
The federal agency says Meta has failed to fully comply with that settlement, and is seeking changes to an agreement that prohibits it from profiting on data collected from users ((Mandatory CG: Instagram)) under the age of 18.
((Tina Trinh, VOA News, New York))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
New York
Embargo DateDecember 11, 2023 17:55 EST
Byline
Tina Trinh, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
