"Brazil institute sues social media giants for $525 mln over usage by minors", 29 October 2024

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

The lawsuits demand the companies create clear data protection mechanisms and issue warnings about the risks to children's and teenagers' mental health due to platform addiction.

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

Meta Platforms said in a statement that it wants "young people to have safe and age-appropriate experiences on our apps, and we have 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 had recently announced a new "Teen Account" on Instagram, which will arrive in Brazil soon and promises to automatically limit the accounts teenagers can see and who may contact them.

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