The Social Media Platform Duty failed to pass the Senate after a total vote which stops a parliamentary tendency to make social media usage more responsible to the state.

California Assembly Vetoed 'Social Media Platform Duty to Children' Act

The California Assembly this week rejected a bill that would have allowed parents to file lawsuits due to addicting social media features. A total Senate vote on the measure, AB 2408, was unsuccessful in getting it out of committee. It ends a contentious effort to make social media use more accountable to the state, which has become a trend among parliamentarians.

One of several state-level social media ideas was AB 2408, often known as the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act. It would have allowed social networks to be fined if their layouts caused a child to become addicted to the platform. Social networks with less than $100 million in annual revenue or utilized mainly for video games weren't covered.

The regulation aims to curb minors' access to social media or enhance punishment for companies that supply it. It's a response to internal studies and company changes that show Instagram may affect teens' mental health. 

But people who were against AB 2408, like internet policy expert and legal writer Eric Goldman, said that the rule would have forced services to use age verification, which would have been bad for privacy, and that it hid the complicated reasons why people use social media too much. 

According to him, it hurts kids because it cuts them off from significant social and educational resources. It hurts adults because it requires age verification to separate kids from adults. Age/identity verification hurts kids and adults by putting their privacy and security at risk, Goldman wrote in an August post about the bill.

The Communications Decency Act's Section 230 may have prevented the measure from passing, but it hasn't stopped other state legislatures from passing similar legislation. Florida and Texas also approved social media regulation laws to stop social networks from removing conservative users. Both legislation is still on hold while a legal battle plays out.

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A Philadelphian Woman Filed a Lawsuit Against Facebook and Instagram

A Philadelphia woman has filed a lawsuit against the social media giant, stating that she became hooked to both platforms and had injuries from using them amid the mounting backlash against Meta over its Facebook and Instagram products.

Laurel Clevenger, a 21-year-old resident of Roxborough, filed her lawsuit last week in the federal court of Philadelphia, citing Meta Platforms, Inc., Instagram, and numerous Facebook corporate entities as defendants.

The lawsuit claims Facebook and Instagram do everything in their power to keep users on the platforms as long as possible to maximize corporate revenue. However, it does little to protect users, especially minors and teenage girls, from harmful content and the potential effects of spending so much time on social media.

Clevenger claims she grew addicted to Facebook and Instagram as a teen. She says the site's material and practices caused her to lose sleep and interest in other things. Her usage of Facebook and Instagram led to an eating problem, body dysmorphia, despair, and suicide thoughts.

Meta, Facebook, and Instagram are accused of carelessness, deception, fraud, and conspiracy. Similar cases have sprouted up around the country recently, but this is the first in the Philadelphia region.

Due to the cases' complexity, similarity, and dispersion over so many jurisdictions, a judicial review panel may decide to merge them into one.

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