Brazil institute sues social media giants for $525 million over extreme use by minors By Reuters

By Ricardo Brito

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Collective Protection Institute has filed two lawsuits demanding 3 billion reais ($525.27 million) from the Brazilian models of TikTok, Kwai and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) for allegedly failing to create mechanisms to forestall indiscriminate use of those social media platforms by minors, in line with preliminary petitions seen by Reuters.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Social media regulation has turn out to be a sizzling subject in Latin America’s largest nation after a months-long feud between X proprietor Elon Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Courtroom justice resulted within the firm paying hefty fines. 

DETAILS

Within the lawsuits, the group calls for the courts, each within the state of Minas Gerais, to order the businesses to create clear information safety mechanisms and subject warnings concerning the dangers to youngsters’s and youngsters’ psychological well being because of platform habit.

The lawsuits are based mostly on a collection of research on the potential harm attributable to unsupervised use of social media, particularly by youngsters and youngsters.

KEY QUOTE

“It is urgent that measures be adopted in order to change the way the algorithm works, the processing of data from users under 18, and the way in which teenagers aged 13 and over are supervised and their accounts created, in order to ensure a safer, healthier experience … as is already the case in developed countries,” mentioned lawyer Lillian Salgado, one of many plaintiffs.

THE RESPONSE

Meta Platforms mentioned in an announcement that it desires “young people to have safe and age-appropriate experiences on our apps, and we have been working on these issues for over a decade, developing more than 50 tools, resources, and features to support teens and their guardians.”

The corporate, which owns Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp, additionally mentioned it had just lately introduced a brand new “Teen Account” on Instagram, which is able to arrive in Brazil quickly and guarantees to routinely restrict the accounts youngsters can see and who could contact them.

TikTok mentioned it had not acquired any discover concerning the case, whereas Kwai didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

($1 = 5.7113 reais)