Protesters outside Meta's NYC office call for more protection for kids
Demonstrators gathered outside Meta's Manhattan office Thursday, demanding the company take better precautions at protecting children.
Emotional family members clutched photos of their children, saying young people are increasingly at risk of harm because of social media.
Open letter calls for end to promoting dangerous content on social media
About 45 families from the United States and the United Kingdom say they lost children to what they call "online harms."
They delivered an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg signed by more than 10,000 people, including 18 safety organizations. They want the company to take greater action to protect kids.
The letter calls on Meta to "end the algorithmic promotion of dangerous content to children under 18, including explicit and sexualizing content, racism and hate speech, content promoting disordered eating or self-harm, dangerous viral challenges, and content promoting drugs and alcohol."
They also call for "purging known problematic adult accounts and not connecting them to kids, and upholding firewalls to prevent unknown adults from communicating with young users through direct messages."
A Meta spokesperson released a statement that reads in part, "Teen accounts have built-in protections that limit who can contact teens and the content they see, and 94% of parents say these are helpful. We've also developed safety features to help prevent abuse, like warning teens when they're chatting to someone in another country."
Meta also says it worked with the nonprofit Childhelp to launch an online safety curriculum to help middle school students recognize potential online harm.
"It's not too late for today's children"
Family members shared their stories and their pain.
"Hey Meta, flashback to the darkest moments of my life when my 16-year-old son David died by suicide after he was cyber-bullied for months on your very own Instagram," one parent said.
"After losing my son, Elijah, my only child, to fentanyl that he obtained from Snapchat, I realized other families have similar experiences," another parent said.
"Stop looking the other way," one woman said.
"It's too late for my son, Brett, but it's not too late for today's children. Do something," another parent said.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can call or text 988 to speak with a trained, caring counselor 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also chat online with a counselor at 988lifeline.org.
