Social media ban for children and Big Tech’s Big Tobacco moment

This episode of The Times Tech Podcast explores a pivotal moment in the ongoing battle to hold Big Tech accountable for the design and impact of social media platforms, particularly on children. Two landmark court rulings in California and New Mexico found Meta and YouTube guilty of creating addictive products through manipulative design, marking a potential turning point akin to the historic Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s. The verdicts shift focus from user behavior to corporate responsibility, emphasizing that features like infinite scroll, dopamine-driven rewards, and algorithmic nudges are intentionally engineered to maximize engagement—regardless of harm. The discussion features Baroness Violet Kidron, a leading digital rights advocate who has campaigned for over a decade on child safety online. She underscores that the real issue isn't content, but the design of platforms that treat children as equals to adults, violating their developmental needs. Despite progress like the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, enforcement has waned, and new threats like AI chatbots are compounding the risks. The episode concludes with a call for urgent, proactive regulation—what Kidron calls 'minimum viable policy'—to prevent further generational harm before it’s too late.