New report says Meta pays influencers to fight social media bans for teens accounts worldwide
As countries move to ban teens from social media, Meta pays actors, psychologists, and parenting influencers across more than a dozen countries to argue against blanket ban for teen accounts.
A new report from the Tech Transparency Project reveals that Meta staged influencer events in multiple countries to promote its Teen Accounts, even before stringent bans on teen social media usage took effect. Influencers were flown to exclusive venues, provided with branded items, and asked to convince their followers that blanket bans were unnecessary.
This strategy has since spread to at least a dozen countries, with influencers in Indonesia, India, and Brazil spreading similar messages. Despite Meta's claims, independent testing suggests that Teen Accounts fail to protect children from harmful content. Meta spokesperson Edward Patterson maintains that these efforts are not misleading, but director Katie Paul of the Tech Transparency Project argues that the company's reliance on paid influencers confirms that the brand has become a problem.
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