The mental health of children in platform economy

One of the most important trends in the regulation of platforms is the protection of children on the Internet. This trend has already been addressed in Monitoring No. 4

The US experience

In October 2024, the attorney generals from 41 U.S. states initiated legal proceedings¹ against Meta for practices that harm children's mental health: 33 states filed a public lawsuit and² another 8 states began litigation. The lawsuit is considered by lawyers to be the largest public initiative to challenge the uncontrolled influence of social media on minors' mental health.

The series of lawsuits resulted from an investigation launched in 2021 by a coalition of attorney generals from 10 states. A number of negative practices were identified. First, Meta introduces features that hook minors' attention on the platform to the detriment of their mental development and are addictive, such as the endless content feed format. Second, Meta deliberately misleads users about the safety of services for children, for example, the user reporting tools do not prevent dangerous content from being shown to the user. Thirdly, Meta does not comply with the requirement of laws on verification of consent of the user under 13 years of age (for example, in California), and the applied age verification tools are ineffective.

As a result, the company might face large fines (for instance, the most recent fine paid by Facebook under a court order is $5 billion), as well as obligations to change corporate policies regarding minors.

Russia’s experience

The US case is indicative of the Russian experience, where there are practically no channels for interaction between platforms and Roskomnadzor, the relationship is built on a topdown scheme: platforms receive instructions from the authority to block information or other requirements, but do not receive any recommendations on data handling, information risk management, organization of digital compliance, etc. (for example, methodological recommendations on depersonalization of personal data have not been updated since 2013). Accordingly, in Russia, practices of interaction with minors are set by the market, and, as a result, in the absence of a unified quality bar for the security of digital services, users of such services do not receive equal guarantees.

From the monitoring issue No. 10, October 2024. Download the full issue (PDF) · issue page at the Gaidar Institute