Meta, YouTube Fined for Child Safety Lapses

0:00It's March 25th. This is Canada News Today, powered by AI. MetaFace major setbacks this week in two core battles over child safety on its platforms. A jury in New Mexico ordered the company to pay $375 million, ruling that Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp put profits ahead of protecting young users. The next day, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube guilty of designing addictive features that hook kids without regard for their well-being. These rulings highlight dangers like sex-stortion scams that have led to teen suicides, including the case of 16-year-old Walker Montgomery from Mississippi. He died by suicide in December 2022, after falling for an online predator posing as a grow on Instagram. Parents grieving similar losses reacted with a mix of relief and sorrow. Walker's father called it a reckoning for an industry that failed to self-regulate, while another mom who lost her 18-year-old daughter, to A, drug overdose linked to social

1:01media trauma, which changes had come sooner. Both companies planned appeals, and more lawsuits are on the way, as states and families demand accountability. Advocates are renewing calls for the Kids Online Safety Act, which passed the Senate but awaits house approval to shield kids from harmful online, content. This wave of verdict signals a turning point, with parents everywhere from those hit hardest to everyday families, stepping up to limit kids' exposure, and push for stronger safeguards before more lives are lost.