Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle lawsuits involving child privacy and alleged social-media addiction. They did not admit wrongdoing.
My opinion? Parents are responsible first and foremost for what their kids are exposed to. That doesn't mean businesses get a free pass. If a company deliberately markets harmful products or ideas to children—as tobacco companies did to young people decades ago—hold them accountable.
But using businesses conducting legal affairs as convenient scapegoats for parental obligations feels weak to me.
There’s a lawsuit in Florida raising similar questions, so this conversation isn't going away. And responsibility doesn't mean abandonment.
Maggie, Bruce, and I (yes, an unconventional, unorthodox 3-headed parenting team) had to make those decisions with our 14-year-old daughter Hannah.
Collectively, we set boundaries. We used locks. Removed where required for her school work. We paid attention.
That was parenting.
So where do you draw the line between corporate responsibility and parental responsibility?
I’d genuinely like to hear what you think.