Products optimize for engagement over well-being. Dark patterns are routine. Children are exposed to manipulative design. Mental health effects are externalized.
Human well-being is the design target. Engagement metrics are subordinate to outcomes that serve users and communities. Protections for minors are default, not opt-in.
US lawmakers have invited major tech CEOs to testify at a congressional hearing focused on children's online safety.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation published a piece criticizing the legislative push to ban social media for youth, arguing that the narrative linking these platforms to a mental health crisis is based on flawed science and 'pop psychology'.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to target social media platforms with new measures aimed at protecting children.
The state of Texas has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging the platform spies on children and employs addictive design features to maximize user engagement.
The Financial Times reports that white-collar workers are increasingly experiencing mental fatigue, termed 'AI brain fry,' due to reliance on AI tools.
OpenAI announced it is testing the integration of advertisements within ChatGPT, signaling a shift toward an ad-supported business model.
EFF and 18 other organizations sent a letter to UK policymakers urging them to address the root causes of online harm, such as engagement-maximizing design, rather than implementing privacy-invasive age-gating requirements.
New Mexico is seeking mandatory changes to Meta's platforms in an ongoing trial concerning algorithmic harms to youth.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released recommendations for the EU's proposed Digital Fairness Act, urging lawmakers to target dark patterns, manipulative defaults, and surveillance-based business models rather than relying on surface-level fixes like age verification.
The Financial Times published a commentary piece exploring the anxieties and challenges of parenting in the era of artificial intelligence.
The EU has charged Meta with breaching tech rules, warning that Facebook and Instagram must do more to block children under 13.
The European Union is urging the rapid deployment of an age-verification application to enhance online protections for minors.
The European Commission has urged Member States to implement an EU-wide age verification app designed to protect minors online.
The European Commission has formally requested Croatia to comply with the Digital Services Act by empowering its national regulatory authority to enforce the rules.
The European Commission has preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act for failing to prevent minors under 13 from using Instagram and Facebook.