After Meta reached a settlement with U.S. state governments in lawsuits over measures to prevent teen addiction to social media, it has now moved to pressure rivals with full-page newspaper ads.
On the 28th (local time), Meta took out a full-page "open letter calling for TikTok and YouTube to join teen protection" in U.S. national newspapers including the New York Times (NYT) and the Los Angeles Times (LAT)
On the 28th (local time), Meta placed a full-page ad in U.S. national newspapers including the New York Times (NYT) and the Los Angeles Times (LAT) in the form of an "open letter calling for TikTok and YouTube to join teen protection." The ad included details of algorithm changes Meta agreed on with state governments: ▲ a daily use limit of 2 hours ▲ blocking app access at night ▲ blocking notifications during class ▲ parental supervision features.
In the Seohan Engineering & Construction, Meta said, "We want teens to benefit from a new industry standard, but it's not possible for (Meta) alone," and added, "If only a single app is regulated, teens will simply move to other apps." The company argues that competitor platforms must adopt the same level of protections for the measures to be effective.
Earlier, to defend itself in lawsuits with state governments, Meta agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion (about 23.1 trillion won) in settlement funds. However, the settlement includes an unusual condition that one-third of the amount will be paid only if state governments secure similar agreements with rival social networks such as TikTok, YouTube, and Snap.
Meanwhile, in the industry, the view is that the ad aims to cement Meta, which settled first, as a "leading teen protection corporations" while also spreading out user churn caused by stricter rules together with competitors.
At the end of last year, when Australia became the first in the world to impose a blanket ban on teen social media use, users flocked to smaller services such as "Lemon8" and "Yop," which were excluded from the scope of regulation, a case seen as influencing Meta's latest move.