this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2026
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464
Meta suffers another legal loss after jury finds Facebook liable for deceiving users (www.the-independent.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Wurzl@lemmy.zip to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] ProfessorYakkington@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

Glad to hear it. But fines like this are just a cost of business for them and for every big company. A fine only hurts if it turns the profit negative. It has to bite enough that breaking the law costs more than not getting caught. Or someone goes to jail. They made more than $942 million by gambling with kids' safety. The leaders likely read the ruling and did the math and would make the same decisions again and just try harder to get away with it. Getting caught harming children ( not just children ) at scale should result in a company no longer existing. It doesn't.

[–] Solrac@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago

The company still exists. That's the real loss.

[–] Eat_Your_Paisley@lemmy.world 90 points 1 day ago

They should have been put out of business when they started manipulating elections in 2014/2015 but it's never too late

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 57 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Good

But, I'm more excited about the possibility that here in Australia they might allow you to block random crap coming up on your feed you didn't follow. As every right wing Nazi idiot is posting rage bait and bullshit to get attention on it

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"I know Facebook is a Nazi org, but I'll just keep generating money by continuing to use it and hope they allow me to block Nazi shit. "

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I operate meetup events. My choices are meetup which is overpriced, or Facebook. Unless you have any suggestions

Also, the benefit of this stretches far what I do. It's the easily corrupted dckheads who won't be absorbing this stuff on a daily basis.

The reality is, I believe a huge factor in all the shit going on is Facebook at the moment. Laws like this are highly beneficial

[–] xtr0n@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago

I appreciate that you’ve made an effort to find alternatives. I refuse to use Meta products and it’s so frustrating when promoters act like I’m a freak for even asking if they post announcements anywhere other than IG

[–] stevles@aussie.zone 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yeah unfortunately when Bending Spoons buy out companies, development typically slows or even stalls and the subscription costs go astronomical. They've done the same with Komoot, Evernote and a bunch of others.

Even their website summarises how shit they are once you wrap quotes around the right word:

We acquire and “improve” iconic products. Supported by dozens of proprietary technologies and an elite team of engineers, scientists, and designers

[–] urushitan@kakera.kintsugi.moe 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

lol honestly it wouldn't surprise me if they secretly get paid a boatload by a competitor to buy out a company, when the other company couldn't buy out their competitor due to monopoly and antitrust law. "Hey can you buy evernote and make it super shitty it's eating into our market share. We'll pay you [x] and give you 50% of every subscription by someone who uses the evernote migration feature over the next two years"

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah unfortunately when ~~Bending Spoons~~ Blackboard buy(s) out companies…

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Without a doubt this is going to make the average user see a feed filled with ads, and want to turn the algorithm back on

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We already do

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It'll be far worse

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It won't... The difference is that the feed will be shorter for the day, so doom scrolling will be more boring

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not if it's padded with ads

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Then people will just switch.. People hate excessive ads. Either way, win win.

At the moment, the situation is even more fcked, and there is no options. Would you prefer the current ragebaity way?

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sounds like you're trying to push a false dichotomy

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

well.. No.. And of all the people discussing this (I mean not the far right idiots on facebook who benefit from doom scrolling), you're the only one who seems to be pretending its a bad thing...

You don't have any evidence that what you're saying will be true.. And, you don't have any better suggestions.

I think maybe you don't understand the law...

Getting rid of the algorithm basically means that you'll be given a list of posts you subscribed to... That's it. It's easy to skip ads (we do it on a daily basis). The big issue is at the moment, there is no stop to the feed. Even if they shove in 10 ads, the feed ends fairly quickly if you're only subscribed to 100 people (you start hitting posts you saw yesterday).

People are scrolling for 30mins or longer at the moment, because the feed never ends. And thats what shitty political parties like One nation rely on, because they flood facebook with so many bot accounts and garbage, that it fills that feed. You're guaranteed to hit them because the rage bait drives engagement and discussion (not in a good way)

The other alternative would be to REQUIRE everyone to prove their identify for facebook, and ban anonymity. And, that law would be harder to pass. But, then we could validate all the bot farms

The other issue is false advertising. IF it gets excessive, Meta will likely be pushing (more) deceptive ads too, and will likely just meet a new legal challenge

[–] crispbacon99@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 day ago

Call me when the billionaire/Epstein class is prosecuted and behind bars

[–] leanleft@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

unrelated criticism:
the website hosting this article is loading 40 third-party scripts.

[–] OneOfManyPerfectCats@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 day ago

Meh. Who cares about these monetary judgements, they don't change anything. I want to see metaphorical heads roll (people jailed for this.) Fines have no consequences whatsoever.

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Isn’t there some third strike rule and Facebook gets locked away for life now?

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Not when they can flash the capitalism card.

[–] Chl0r0f0rm_Angel@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago

Yes, another 50¢ in class action settlements! That'll show em

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

New Mexico leading the way!?

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 6 points 1 day ago

*New America

/s