##Landmark antitrust case ##decision puts both state and federal governments ##further at odds, claiming ##Google’s anticompetitive practices## led to its dominance The US Department of Justice and #Google are waiting.
And meth is #currently the target of a state lawsuit that claims it harmed children’s mental health and misled the public about online safety.
Stephanie See focuses on that part of the story.
Stephanie SY: Amna, more than 40 # states, and the District of Columbia oppose Meta, the parent company of # Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
State attorneys general say Facebook and # Instagram are intentionally manipulating their apps in ways that make children and teens addicted to them, despite age restrictions. He claims that he was unable to do so.
Colorado Attorney General Phil# Weiser helped lead the lawsuit.
PHIL WEISER (D), Colorado State Attorney ## Director: Meta, under federal law, ## cannot and should not be marked or consented to.
That’s exactly what they are doing.
Meta identified ## 11- and 12-year-olds as a valuable untapped audience and ## engaged in conduct in violation of federal law.
Stephanie SY: Several articles have also focused on Meta’s struggle to protect children from online predators and ## promoting pedophile accounts through its algorithms.
Jeff Horwitz’s reporting in the Wall #Street Journal led to increased social ## and legal scrutiny ## of social media, which led to his new book ## “Broken Code: Inside Facebook and its Harm.” has become the focus of a fight to expose secrets. ā
Jeff, thank you so much for joining us on NewsHour.
Regarding the state’s lawsuit, I would like to return to the general point about the risks to # children under the teens.
You recently published an investigation ## on pedophiles on your platform.
Let’s talk about something disturbing that you found.
Jeff Horwitz, Wall Street Journal: Absolutely.
I think everyone is voraciously consuming content and looking for ## communities to provide it.
That might be a good thing.
# Connect with useful hobbies.
It can also unite ## people who desperately want to believe that the 2020 or 2024 elections were stolen. ## For that matter.
And it can bring together people who want to sexualize children.
So this system is very good in that regard. # Great personalization. ## The problem is that this system frequently # operates far beyond its capacity to # even understand the people running it and intervene to stop the harmful behavior. .
Stephanie SY: Okay. And that led you down a pretty dark path. # For example, you found a group with hundreds of thousands of ## people interested in incest, right?
Jeff Horwitz: I wish I could find just one.
This is very consistent.
The platforms and groups you should join ## The algorithm basically starts pushing harder and darker content, like ## as soon as you start following ## even slightly questionable # entities. . — Really, Really, Just ## The terrible, terrible events involving child abduction were literally the subject of one group.
And this is a daily thing.
The company is working on cleaning up its systems#.
We spent six months ## trying to let them know where ## they weren’t getting, and it’s an ongoing problem to this day.
STEPHANIE SY: And another #article has come out in the last few days, ## Introducing Encrypted Messaging with Meta, # About Encrypted Messaging on Facebook, ## Your Report on ## Efforts to Stop Children Please talk about the impact ## of abuses on the platform.
Jeff Horwitz: Yes.
So for years, encryption has been opposed by law enforcement and government groups on the grounds that it impedes investigations.
Meta employs end-to-end encryption for both Facebook and Instagram, so ## there may be something that has gone unnoticed ## that you’ll probably notice soon. A completely public social network would ## be potentially highly unstable and highly conducive to looting.
Because one organization is ##trying to make another group into some sort of prey#### about the system, whether it’s human trafficking or recruitment into drug cartels through child exploitation##. Because not having the insight ## is really a problem and will be a problem for #specific efforts to combat it.
So, in other words, if we can’t actually investigate the network using traditional investigative methods, there will be groups such as large, active pedophile groups. It ##connects people and sends them #almost intact to the dark web.
Stephanie SY: And law enforcement, # as an example, uses ## messaging and the ability to access that messaging. Meta, of course, believes that privacy is the goal here. And that’s why they want ## encryption.
Meta also responded to # your reports, including recent reports of ## pedophile content on the platform, stating:
That’s why we hire experts ## dedicated to child safety online, develop new technologies to eradicate predators, and share what we learn with ## other companies and law enforcement agencies. ## Shared with. ā
The statement continues: # āWe are actively continuing the changes identified by the # task force we previously established # # About Content — # Explicit Child Content on Instagra My question is to Jeff Horwitz # I’m wondering if Meta has addressed all of the ## issues you identified in your report: certainly it hasn’t addressed any of # those aspects.
No, the special committee was closed. # They don’t pay much attention to it or put as much emphasis on it, # even though the problem is still ongoing.
No, I think there are some fundamental ## issues with platforms not wanting to take responsibility for how ## they have reshaped human communication.
This is where they’re like, “Oh, it’s just the Internet.”
People ## are doing bad things on the internet.
Who can stop it?
The problem that arises here is that none of the # # communities that exist on these platforms are actually formed.
STEPHANIE SY: Thank you very much, Jeff Horwitz, author of the new ##book “Broken Code”# Jeff Horwitz: Thank you.