Brazil’s Institute for Collective Defense, a consumer rights group, has filed two lawsuits demanding 3 billion reais ($525.27 million) from the Brazilian units of the TikTok, Kwai and Meta platforms for allegedly failing to create mechanisms to preventing the indiscriminate use of these social media platforms by minors. , according to initial petitions reviewed by Reuters.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Social media regulation has become a hot topic in Latin America’s largest country after a months-long feud between X owner Elon Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge resulted in the company paying stinging fines .

DETAILS

The lawsuits require the companies to create clear data protection mechanisms and issue warnings about the risks to the mental health of children and teenagers due to addiction to the platforms.

The lawsuits are based on a series of studies on the possible harm caused by unsupervised use of social networks, especially by children and teenagers.

KEY QUOTE

“It is urgent that measures be taken to change the way the algorithm works, the processing of data from users under 18, and the way teenagers aged 13 and over are supervised and create their accounts, to ensure a safe better. , healthier experience … as is already happening in developed countries,” said attorney Lillian Salgado, one of the plaintiffs.

THE ANSWER

Meta Platforms said in a statement that it wants “young people to have safe and age-appropriate experiences in our apps, and we’ve been working on these issues for over a decade, developing more than 50 tools, resources and features to support teens.” and their guardians”.

The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, also said it recently announced a new “Teen Account” on Instagram, which will arrive in Brazil soon and promises to automatically limit which accounts teens can see and who can contact

TikTok said it had not received any notification of the case, while Kwai, a social media site based on short videos, said in a statement that user safety is one of its priorities, especially when it comes to minors.