Oakland, California, the US – During the COVID-19 pandemic, Erin Popolo’s then-16-year-old daughter Emily took a job at a cafe near her home in Bridgewater, New Jersey, making pizza. Emily had always battled mental health issues, but when some classmates posted photos of her with an apron and hairnet on social media and began cyberbullying her, it got worse. Emily had joined Facebook and Instagram just before the pandemic and stayed on because “she wanted to have friends, be in a group”, things she struggled with otherwise, Popolo said.
She had used the report button to take down the negative comments against her daughter, but to no avail. Emily died by suicide a few months later, at 17. Last week, Popolo joined a group of parents outside a United States federal court in Oakland.
Hearings had begun in a case in which 29 US states sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for design flaws in its products that the plaintiffs said led to children becoming addicted and allowed them to be contacted by drug dealers, cyberbullied, extorted and abused. The high-stakes case sought up to $200bn in fines as well as changes to Meta’s products and business practices. On Wednesday, Meta settled the case for $18bn and agreed to increase protections for young users.
While the settlement has been hailed as historic, Popolo asked: “What evidence did they not want to get out?” The trial had started on August 18 and was expected to last six weeks. Mary Rodee, whose 15-year-old son died by suicide after becoming the target of online extortion, said the measures announced on Wednesday would not have protected him. She said she hopes there will be more cases against Meta.
She wants to see convictions and increased transparency in their processes. The states’ case had included internal documents showing that Meta’s top executives knew of the security loopholes in their platforms. In his testimony on Tuesday, Instagram’s chief executive Adam Mosseri said that Instagram had added a pop-up feature to all teen accounts in 2024, asking them to take a break from scrolling, as well as a quiet mode for notifications.
Jason Slothouber, from the Colorado attorney general’s office, asked if Mosseri was aware that parents had no way of knowing that only 1 percent to 2 percent of children used this feature. Mosseri confirmed they did not. He was scheduled to testify again on Wednesday, but then the settlement was reached.
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