On October 24th, 2023, a collective force of 33 states filed a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The suit, filed in California district court, alleged that Meta had used advertising tailored towards children, which made them addicted to its services, while its failure to properly regulate its platforms created a dangerous and harmful environment for them. The lawsuit against Meta Platforms is of utmost importance to the SPRING Group. As an organization exclusively composed of students who are young adults, the members of the Group are in the age cohort that Meta has directly tailored its deceptive advertising towards. On top of our knowledge regarding the addictive effects of social media, such as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, on younger children, SPRING fellows also have personal experiences with living childhoods defined by the constant usage of social networks. As part of its goal of highlighting youth viewpoints on issues of concern to them, SPRING seeks to bring the unique perspective of high school students into the states’ action against Meta. This brief analyzes the specific causes of action in the lawsuit, specifically Meta’s youth-tailored advertising, their negligence and misrepresentation to the public, as well as their harms on the physical and mental safety of younger users. It then delves into the validity of the lawsuit, how it is likely to be ruled upon, and what courts have done or will likely do with it.
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Prepared for Boston Children's Hospital Digital Wellness Lab, this memo explains the regulatory landscape of AI and child tech products. Currently, the federal government has few regulations on the use of AI in child technology products. Lawsuits on AI chatbots, such as those involving Character AI, have made courts a regulator on AI and child tech products. In addition to lawsuits, state have proposed regulations for AI products, such as California’s LEAD for Kids Act. On a global level, entities, such as the European Union and the United Nations, also play a role in defining AI use with children.
Over the past year, political sentiment has pushed states to regulate social media use for children in the United State. We analyze 300 bills introduced by US state legislatures in 2024. We find that while Democratic- and Republican-controlled legislatures both introduced legislation related to social media, Republican-controlled state legislatures were more likely to enact such regulation.
Queer inmates are disproportionately represented in prisons. In a 2011 survey, around 16% of transgender respondents and 47% of Black transgender respondents experienced incarceration, despite making up only 2.7% of the population nationally. In total, 124,000 of those incarcerated in US prisons & jails identify as LGBTQ and 6,000 identify as transgender.
Social media has exploded in usage amongst children. 50% of parents state that their child has access to some type of social media, with 32% of parents reporting that their children aged 7 to 9 have access to social media. Three quarters of parents have shared the content of their children online.1 ...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a global concern with diverse stakeholders worldwide, ranging from governments using AI for benign or harmful purposes to multinational tech companies pursuing AI dominance. Amid this complex landscape, ethical concerns related to human rights, privacy, and sustainability often go unaddressed. To tackle these challenges, there's a pressing need for a global framework and collaborative body for AI governance. The United Nations is working toward establishing a multi-stakeholder High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelli...
The up-and-coming technological development that will define the next few centuries of scientific advancement is not in Artificial Intelligence, but rather our understanding of the sub-atomic: quantum. The quantum revolution leverages new innovative understandings in science theory and engineering capability to create new solutions in diverse spaces from cryptography to physical materials. Quantum computers, which offer the real possibility of replacing classical computers for intensive tasks, have the potential to transform and optimise sectors from agr...