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Social Media Faces Lawsuits From Schools Over Mental Health Effects

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2 years ago

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social media

SEATTLE, Wash. – The big U.S. social media firms, like the cigarette, oil, gun, opioid, and vape businesses before them, are now facing lawsuits launched by public agencies seeking to hold them accountable for a massive societal problem – in this case, the mental health crisis among youngsters.

However, the new cases — one filed by a public school district in Seattle last week, another by a suburban district on Monday, and almost definitely more to follow — face an uncertain legal path.

Next month, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments on how federal law protects the computer industry from such claims when social media algorithms push potentially dangerous information.

Even if the Supreme Court grants permission for lawsuits like Seattle’s, the district faces difficulty showing the industry’s liability.

And the tech industry says there are many ways in which the effects of social media on teens’ mental health are different from, say, how big pharma promotes opioid addiction.

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There Are Many Ways Social Media Effects Teens

“The fundamental premise is that the tech business is to blame for teens’ emotional state because they recommended content that has caused emotional injury,” vice president of tech industry trade organization NetChoice, said. “It would be ludicrous to sue Barnes & Noble because a staff member recommended a book that caused emotional harm or upset a youngster.” But that is precisely what this lawsuit does.”

Seattle Public Schools sued the digital titans behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat on Friday, arguing they had created a public nuisance by marketing to youngsters. The Kent School District in the Seattle suburbs followed suit on Monday.

The districts blame the companies for mental health and behavioral disorders such as anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and cyberbullying, making it making difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring more mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media, and providing additional teacher training.social media

Unprecidented Life Challenges

“Young people everywhere — face unprecedented learning and life challenges that are exacerbated by the negative effects of increased screen time, potentially addictive social media properties,” Seattle Superintendent Brent Jones said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “We hope this action will help reverse this trend for our students.”

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects online businesses from being held responsible for what other people post on their platforms. But the complaints say that the rule, which was made before there were any social media platforms, doesn’t protect the tech giants in this case because their algorithms favor harmful information.

This is also the issue in Gonzalez v. Google, YouTube’s parent firm, which the Supreme Court will hear on February 21. In another instance, the family of an American lady slain in an Islamic State group attack in Paris in 2015 claims that YouTube’s algorithms helped the terror group recruit.

If the Supreme Court rules that digital corporations can be held accountable in such cases, school districts will still have to prove that social media was to blame. Seattle’s lawsuit says that between 2009 and 2019, the number of students who said they felt “so unhappy or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row” that they stopped doing some of their usual activities rose by 30%.

However, Szabo noted that Seattle’s graduation rates have been rising since 2019 when many youngsters relied on social media to stay in touch with their pals during the pandemic. He said that the number of people who graduate from high school would be going up if social media were so bad for the district’s educational efforts.

“The complaint focuses solely on how social media damages children, and there may be evidence of that,” said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. “However, there is a lot of evidence that social media improves teenagers and other children. We don’t know what the distress rate would be like if social media didn’t exist. The distress rate might probably be higher rather than lower.”

social media

Company’s Care About The Safety Of Its Users

The companies have said that they care about the safety of their users, especially children. They have tools that make it easier for parents to know who their children are talking to. They have also made it easier for people to find mental health resources on social media, like the new 988 crisis hotline. They have also made it easier to check a user’s age and set limits on how much time they can spend on their devices.

“When teens join Instagram, we immediately switch their profiles to private, and we send reminders encouraging them to take regular breaks,” Meta’s global head of safety, said “We do not allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders, and we identify over 99% of the content we remove or take action on before it is reported to us.”

Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, released internal studies in 2021 that showed the company knew Instagram was bad for kids because it hurt their body image and made eating disorders and suicidal thoughts worse. She claimed the platform put profits ahead of safety and concealed its research from investors and the general public.

Josh Golin, the executive director of Fairplay, an organization that protects children from commercialization and marketing, says that even if social media helps some students, it doesn’t make up for the huge harm it does to many others.

“The mental health expenses to students are astronomical, as is the amount of time schools have to spend monitoring and responding to social media drama,” Golin added. “It is ludicrous that schools are liable for the devastation created by these social media sites to young people. Nobody is witnessing the kinds of cumulative effects that social media is having on school districts.”

Both claims were filed in the United States District Court, but they are based on state public nuisance law – a wide, ill-defined legal notion with origins dating back to 13th century England. In Washington, a public nuisance is “any illegal act and every failure to do a duty” that “annoys, hurts, or threatens the safety, health, comfort, or rest of a large number of people.”

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Tabacco Industries Under Constant Fire

Most notably, public nuisance allegations aided the tobacco industry in reaching a $246 billion, 25-year settlement with the states in 1998. However, state, city, county, and tribal governments have used public nuisance legislation to hold oil firms accountable for climate change, the gun business for gun violence, the pharmaceutical sector for the opioid crisis, and vaping companies like Juul accountable for teen vaping.

The majority of the litigation is still continuing. Juul Labs agreed to resolve thousands of lawsuits, including 1,400 from school districts, towns, and counties, for an estimated $1.2 billion last month.

The Seattle lawsuit could lead to many changes, raising questions about whether it is right to solve big social problems in court instead of through laws. However, the school system faces little risk because the complaint was brought on a contingency basis, which means the company is only paid if the action is successful.

Jolina Cuaresma, senior counsel for privacy and technology policy at Common Sense Media, which works to make media safer for children, said she was pleased to see a school district file a public nuisance lawsuit against internet corporations.

“People have grown impatient of waiting for Congress to act,” she remarked.

SOURCE – (AP)

 

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Geoff Brown is a seasoned staff writer at VORNews, a reputable online publication. With his sharp writing skills he consistently delivers high-quality, engaging content that resonates with readers. Geoff's' articles are well-researched, informative, and written in a clear, concise style that keeps audiences hooked. His ability to craft compelling narratives while seamlessly incorporating relevant keywords has made him a valuable asset to the VORNews team.

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On December 24, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Will Make Its Closest Approach To The Sun.

Published

7 hours ago

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2024-12-22

By

NASA

(VOR News) – NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make its last approach to the sun, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

This is expected to take place on the 24th of December. On this particular date, it is widely predicted that the project will be finished on time.

It has been reported by Sci Tech Daily that the Parker Solar Probe, which is currently in fine condition and is being controlled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is functioning in an efficient manner. This data was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is in charge of supervising the Living With a Star Program, which includes the Parker Solar Probe, which is an essential undertaking associated to the program.

The program is managed by NASA.

The program’s principal mission is to conduct research to enhance understanding of the Sun and its effects on Earth.

The airplane is projected to traverse a distance of 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) from the Sun throughout the mission. In comparison to the Sun, this distance signifies an exceptionally close encounter with the star in question.

The persons responsible for the mission will encounter difficulties in contacting them during the interval when the spacecraft is at its closest approach, known as perihelion.

On December 27th, subsequent to the flyby, it will transmit a signal to confirm its proper functionality and acceptable operation. This will provide as evidence that it is functioning within its standard parameters. The implementation of this plan will ensure its proper functioning.

The acquisition of fresh knowledge and discoveries related to solar activity and phenomena will be facilitated by the subsequent collecting of these data.

“This exemplifies NASA’s audacious missions, undertaking unprecedented endeavors to address enduring inquiries regarding our universe,” stated Arik Posner, a scientist involved in the Parker Solar Probe program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

“This exemplifies one of NASA’s audacious missions.” “This exemplifies one of NASA’s audacious missions.” “This exemplifies one of NASA’s audacious missions.”

“This has to be one of NASA’s most ambitious undertakings.”

Posner dedicated time and effort to composing this assertion, which he then included into a publicly released statement.

He remarked, “We anticipate receiving the initial status update from the spacecraft and commencing the acquisition of scientific data in the forthcoming weeks.”

This constitutes an additional point of interest. These are additional things of interest to contemplate. This subject is attracting significant attention from persons worldwide.

While at the Advanced Photon Technologies (APT) laboratory, Nick Pinkine, newly appointed mission operations manager for the Parker Solar Probe, noted that “no human-made object has ever approached a star this closely, thus Parker will indeed be transmitting data from uncharted territory.”

Pinkine is responsible for supervising the mission activities of the Parker Solar Probe and is accountable for these operations. Pinkine’s observation pertains to the Parker Solar Probe’s return of data from hitherto uncharted locations. These ecosystems have not been before encountered.

He issued the following remark for the sake of clarification: “We anticipate a response from the spacecraft upon its completion of the solar orbit.”

SOURCE: JN

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Google Responds To The US Bid To Mandate Chrome’s Sale.

Published

1 day ago

on

2024-12-21

By

Google

(VOR News) – Google responded to a request from the United States to sell its Chrome browser late on Friday. The request was made by Google’s Chrome browser.

A judge should be asked to settle antitrust issues by barring the corporation from making advantageous treatment of its software a condition of licensing, according to the company’s proposal.

According to a proposed judgement that Google has published, which is twelve pages long, it is forbidden for the internet giant to demand favourable distribution or treatment of its software on mobile devices as a condition of licensing popular apps like Chrome, Play, or Gemini. This is because the proposed ruling prohibits such a requirement.

The United States government, as part of a substantial antitrust assault on the firm, made a motion to a judge in November to compel the deconstruction by selling its Chrome browser, which is widely used. This phase of the inquiry into the corporation was part of a bigger antitrust investigation.

The US Justice Department has called for a shake-up of Google’s business.

This shake-up would include forbidding deals that would allow Google to be the default search engine on mobile devices and preventing the corporation from exploiting its Android mobile operating system among other things.

United States District Court Judge Amit Mehta concluded in August that Google was a monopoly. The next stage of the historic antitrust trial is to discover how to repair the wrongs that Google has committed in its business practices. This is the next stage of the trial.

Google has urged that Mehta stop it from using the licensing desirability of its programs to compel mobile device manufacturers to pre-install its search engine or make it the default option, according to a court filing.

Mehta has also requested that Google be prohibited from employing this method. This request was made in response to the proposition that Mehta had made.

The order that is being considered states that “nothing in this Final Judgement shall otherwise prohibit Google from providing consideration to a mobile device manufacturer or wireless carrier with respect to any product or service in exchange for such entity’s distribution, placement on any access point, promotion, or licensing of that Google product or service.” This clause is incorporated into the order that is being requested.

The decision made by the authorities of the United States government to call for the dissolution of Google reflects a fundamental departure in the approach that they have taken. The authorities have, for the most part, disregarded the digital titans ever since they were unsuccessful in their attempt to smash Microsoft twenty years ago.

If Judge Mehta denies the injunction, Google will likely appeal.

This will most certainly cause the process to drag on for a number of years, and it is possible that the Supreme Court of the United States will have the final word in the matter.

A further issue that has the potential to influence the outcome of the case is the fact that President-elect Donald Trump arrived at the White House in the month of January.

There is a significant possibility that his administration will replace the leadership team that is now in charge of the antitrust division of the Justice Department under the current government.

When it comes to the newcomers, they have three choices: they may either continue with the case, they can ask Google for a settlement, or they can choose not to pursue the case at all.

The trial, which was completed the year before, included an investigation into confidential deals with smartphone manufacturers, including Apple. This investigation was carried out for the entirety of the trial.

The objective of these collaborations is to ensure that Google’s search engine is the default option on any device, including browsers, iPhones, and other gadgets. This is accomplished by charging substantial fees.

The judge came to the judgement that this relationship provided Google with access to user data that was unmatched by any other corporation. As a result, Google was able to build its search engine into a platform that is at the forefront of competition on a worldwide scale.

SOURCE: BR

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Nukkleus Acquires Star 26 Capital Inc., Marking a Strategic Shift.

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Nukkleus Acquires Star 26 Capital Inc., Marking a Strategic Shift.

Published

5 days ago

on

2024-12-17

By

Nukkleus

(VOR News) – A major strategic change has been made when Nukkleus Inc., a fintech business that specialises in digital financial technology, stated that it has paid $26 million to acquire a controlling 51% position in Star 26 Capital Inc.

Israel’s prestigious Iron Dome missile defence system is mostly supplied by RIMON, which Star 26 Capital owns a 95% controlling interest in.

With this acquisition, Nukkleus is expanding from its finance roots into the defence industry, interacting with a rapidly growing industry driven by shifting demands for global security. As businesses look into high-growth industries to improve their market position, the activity aligns with broader trends in strategic diversification.

The Role of Star 26 Capital in the World’s Defence Infrastructure

Through its full ownership in RIMON, Star 26 Capital Inc. plays a crucial role in Israel’s defence infrastructure. The Iron Dome missile defence system, a well acknowledged technology that has successfully saved civilian lives during rising regional tensions, depends heavily on RIMON.

The Iron Dome is renowned for its advanced radar and interceptor systems, which provide outstanding protection from artillery shells and short-range rockets.

Along with the Iron Dome, RIMON has made a name for itself as a key supplier of systems and components for other defence applications.

Their goods include masts, tactical vehicle solutions, specialist generators, and contemporary lighting systems—all crucial for security and military operations. The company operates through exclusive contracts and alliances, which increase its competitiveness in the market.

Nukkleus’s Strategic Justification

The purchase of Star 26 Capital by Nukkleus demonstrates a calculated diversification strategy. This move highlights the company’s goal to leverage emerging opportunities in defence technology, even though finance and digital assets are essential to its operations.

“The acquisition of Star 26 Capital represents a significant milestone, allowing us to enter the rapidly growing defence technology industry,” said Emil Assentato, CEO of Nukkleus. Because of its proven track record of providing vital defence solutions, RIMON is the best partner for us as we work to create long-term value for our investors.

Through this strategic move, Nukkleus is able to profit from the growing global defence budget, which has been exacerbated by regional conflicts, geopolitical instability, and increased security concerns.

By purchasing a share in Star 26 Capital, Nukkleus gains access to cutting-edge technologies and strengthens its position in a prominent international defence industry.

The process of diversification In Light of Changing Market Dynamics

Nukkleus has purposefully diversified its assets during the past year. In order to bolster its position in international financial markets, the company previously inked a term sheet to acquire Mercury Global, a cross-border payments provider.

By acquiring Star 26 Capital, Nukkleus is showcasing a well-rounded expansion strategy by leveraging both financial and defence technologies to increase its footprint.

Star 26 Capital will provide Nukkleus with a significant revenue stream outside of traditional fintech markets thanks to its involvement in the development of tactical vehicles, exclusive contracts for cutting-edge components, and vital contribution to defensive infrastructure.

The Future of Star 26 Capital and Nukkleus

Through the deal, Nukkleus’s financial expertise and Star 26 Capital’s technological know-how may work together more effectively.

Nukkleus is capable of researching financial innovations created especially for military supply chain management, defence contract procurement, and safe international payment options. In an increasingly digital environment, this integration may revolutionise the operational and transactional administration of defence companies.

According to industry analysts, Nukkleus made a bold and wise move by entering the defence market. With the growth of international defence markets and the increasing need for technologies like the Iron Dome, Nukkleus is well-positioned to benefit from this diversification strategy in the long run.

Final evaluation

The purchase of a majority stake in Star 26 Capital and, by extension, RIMON by Nukkleus Inc. represents a significant milestone in the company’s development.

Nukkleus has demonstrated its ability to identify and seize high-growth opportunities by moving from the financial sector to the defence technology sector. This deal strengthens Star 26 Capital’s position as a major player in the global defence ecosystem by providing new avenues for growth and innovation.

By strategically acquiring Star 26 Capital, Nukkleus demonstrated its proactive approach in the military technology space and opened the door for future expansion and influence in a number of industries.

SOURCE: AL

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