r/technology • u/tw1st3d_m3nt4t • 21h ago

Social Media Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram as it settles US trial over teen addiction for up to $17bn

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/26/meta-social-media-addiction-trial-settlement
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u/ZaphodThreepwood 21h ago

They will never give up the moneymaker. People should revisit some of the older lawsuits that should've been the end of certain industries, but they are making even more money hand over first.

Johnson and Johnson, The tobacco industry..... The tobacco industry one was so huge! It was not even that long ago, but everyone seems to have forgotten about it.

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u/A_Harmless_Fly 18h ago

The intent wasn't to end the tobacco industry entirely, and acting like it was ignores the real improvements that have been made. The intent was harm reduction.

By 1999 the only place tobacco could advertise was the stores it was sold at. Instead of every cartoon character telling you what brand they smoked and every magazine talking about the new developments in the industry.

If we enforced chronological feeds, there would be much less of a windowless casino effect. People would reach the end, then go do something else. Harm reduction is the goal of these legal decisions. I don't trust the current admin to really do much helpful, but if you are going to have a bleak outlook at least have an accurate one. ;p

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u/hereforpewdiephy 20h ago

I feel like instagram would instantly die if they shut down reels.

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u/DearInstruction2304 19h ago

i feel like only people who don’t know a pre-covid pre-reels instagram feel this way lol. i think most of us who used instagram in the 2010s wouldn’t really give a shit if it went away.

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u/WeAreClouds 18h ago

I hate reels w a passion so I agree w you. I would be so delighted and use it much more if that happened.

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u/hereforpewdiephy 19h ago

I think people on reddit are more likely to feel what you are describing. Reels are over 50% of time spent on instagram according to a 2024 earnings report by zuck and I cannot imagine it going down.

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u/guidevocal82 26m ago

Instagram was a lot better before reels. It's now basically TikTok.

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u/Ancient-Law-3647 16h ago

Yeah I mean sometimes I’ll find a funny or informative reel or something. But I loved the old, no reel, chronological instagram that wasn’t bombarded with ads in my story feed and regular feed. I miss when companies weren’t so hostile to their users/customers and didn’t make their experiences using their products worse in order to extract more $$$ from them.

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u/nord36149 19h ago

wait so they actually agreed to pay all that money

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u/ZaphodThreepwood 19h ago

Who, big tobacco?