A Historic Settlement Over Social Media Addiction

Meta, the world’s biggest social media company, reached a multibillion-dollar legal settlement on Wednesday over claims that its technology was addictive to children.

The company agreed to impose major changes to how minors use its products.

Cecilia Kang, a technology reporter for The New York Times, explains why a company that almost never backs down finally cut a deal, and whether this will start a new era of accountability for Big Tech.

Guest: Cecilia Kang, a reporter covering technology and regulatory policy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Meta will pay up to $17.1 billion over claims of social media addiction.
• A movement to restrict social media for children has taken hold globally.

Photo: Jason Henry for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.