{"id":44141,"date":"2026-08-30T13:17:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=44141"},"modified":"2026-08-30T13:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:17:34","slug":"amnesty-international-calls-for-social-media-reforms-after-meta-settlement","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/amnesty-international-calls-for-social-media-reforms-after-meta-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty International calls for social media reforms after Meta settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Amnesty International has called for global reforms across social media platforms following reports that technology giant Meta has agreed an $18 billion settlement with 47 American states over allegations its platforms harm children.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The agreement resolves a 2023 lawsuit accusing Meta of violating child privacy laws and intentionally designing addictive features on Facebook and Instagram that contributed to mental health issues among young users.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As part of the settlement, Meta has committed to implementing specific safety features for users under 18, including a default two-hour daily time limit, removing public like counts, banning features linked to mental health harms, and expanding parental supervision controls. Meta has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Responding to the settlement, Amnesty International United States Deputy Director of Research Justin Mazzola welcomed the proposed design updates but warned that further systemic changes are required.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The settlement is a turning point not just for Meta, but all social media,&#8221; Mazzola said. &#8220;Social media platforms must now change how they operate and fix their harmful features to protect children and young people. Child safety must be built into platforms from the start, not added as an afterthought once harms are identified.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mazzola added that while the agreement sends a clear signal to technology firms, platforms should go further by turning off hyper-personalised recommendation algorithms by default for minor users.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/AmnestyInternational &#8212;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23365,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-44141","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Meta agrees $18 billion child safety settlement","published_date":"2026-08-30 13:17:22","news_description":"Meta agrees $18 billion child safety settlement","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44143,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44141\/revisions\/44143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}