Meta lost $16.7 billion. You just lost your digital privacy
It’s easy to feel a certain schadenfreude over news of Meta’s $16.7 billion settlement with almost every state attorney general. Sometimes bad things happen to bad corporations. It’s hard not to cheer.
TL;DR
- Meta settled with state attorneys general for $16.7 billion over alleged harms to minors on its platforms.
- The settlement requires Meta to implement content restrictions, time limits, and curfews for teen accounts.
- The author argues these measures will lead to increased data collection, age verification, and potentially biometric surveillance for all users.
- This increased surveillance is seen as a threat to overall digital privacy, anonymity, and free speech.
- The settlement creates an incentive for competitors to adopt similar age-gating policies, potentially leading to widespread identity verification for online participation.