Looking to loot Meta in the name of saving your kids

A quartet of state attorneys general and a pack of plaintiffs attorneys haul Meta into federal court in tort-hellhole Oakland on Tuesday — out to milk as many billions as they can from the tech giant in the name of protecting America’s kids.Of course, if that were their true goal they’d be going after TikTok and YouTube first, since teens use both much more, before assaulting Instagram’s owner.But Meta has the deepest pockets, a market cap of $1.5 trillion ..

.which, not coincidentally, about matches the damages the litigants seek.

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Never miss a story.Nor is this case actually about any real harm done to any child: It centers on Meta’s supposed violations of 1950s-era state business-practices and consumer-protection laws, as the AGs claim that company leaders said the app was “safe” even as they pushed to make Instagram enjoyable enough that kids kept coming back.(The states have other gripes, but they’re even more dubious.)Some key points:If society wants to do something about children’s use of tech, it needs to pass laws that address the issue: Maybe start by mandating age-verification safeguards, parental controls etc.

be factory-installed on the smartphones the kids use — phones an adult is almost always paying for.The Oakland case, like hundreds of suits about teens and social media across the nation, isn’t about fixing anything; it’s all nothing but legal and political sharks profiteering by pretending to stand up for the little guy.This racket is as despicable as anything they claim to be fighting against....