NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A grieving mother calls Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to “face the music” as he takes the stand in a lawsuit involving claims that social media platforms are designed to addict young users.
Deb Schmill, a founding member of Parents for Safe Online Spaces, lost her 18-year-old daughter Becca to fentanyl poisoning in 2020 after the teen allegedly contacted a dealer via Facebook.
“It’s a historic moment. It’s time for this man to actually face the music. He’s been away for too long, without any responsibility,” Schmill said Wednesday on “America Reports.”
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and chairman of Meta, arrives at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles on February 18, ahead of a trial in Los Angeles that will examine whether social media companies designed their platforms to be addictive to children. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Pile of sugar took a stand on Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom in a case filed by a woman, known only as KGM, who claims tech companies are designing their platforms to employ young users. She blamed these platforms for contributing to her mental health issues.
Schmill said her daughter has experienced similar disturbing moments online. She said Becca was raped by a boy she later met in a group chat bullied on Snapchat.
“He (Zuckerberg) has his product on purpose Designed to get kids addicted. When he finds out that a feature is harming children, he says, “Let’s just move on.” “Don’t change it,” Schmill said.
“He could change everything in an instant and protect his users, but he chooses not to,” she argued.
Deb Schmill holds a photo of her daughter Becca during a visit to Newton Cemetery in Newton, Massachusetts, March 6, 2024. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
In a statement about it Fox News DigitalMeta rejected Schmill’s characterization, writing, “The opposite is true: We intentionally designed automatic defaults like sleep mode that encourage teens to exit the app and pause notifications overnight. Parents can go further by limiting their teens’ total time to just 15 minutes per day or setting scheduled breaks for when teens need to quit our apps.”
In January 2024, Zuckerberg addressed families of children who were harmed online during congressional testimony, saying “no one” should have to endure what is happening to them. He added that Meta concentrated on efforts to improve the safety of young people.
“It’s terrible. No one should have to go through what your families have endured,” he said. “And that’s why we are investing so much and will continue to make industry-leading efforts to ensure that no one has to endure the suffering that your families have endured.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
But Schmill said she didn’t believe Zuckerberg’s apology and argued he worked against it Children’s Online Safety Act (KOSA). The bill aims to protect minors from dangers online by enforcing security requirements for digital platforms.
“Last session, he and others managed to prevent passage of the Kids Online Safety Act, and we just hope that this session it actually gets through Congress,” she said.
A Meta spokesperson told Fox News Digital that KOSA’s “duty of care” provision was too broad and would allow the FTC, not parents, to decide what content was appropriate for children. The company said it supports federal legislation requiring app stores to obtain parental consent for app downloads by users under 16, leaving the decision up to parents.
