The human cost of making Big Tech accountable

A recent $17 billion settlement involving Meta highlights the ongoing struggle for online child safety. While financial settlements provide some recourse, they are often viewed as 'half-wins' that fail to address the core business models driving addictive platform features. Advocates argue that these settlements impose a heavy emotional toll on survivor families, who must repeatedly relive their trauma to maintain public pressure on tech giants. The article suggests that true accountability requires legislative action rather than one-time payouts. It points to new California laws, such as AB 1709 and AB 2, as more effective solutions. These regulations shift the focus from post-harm compensation to proactive design restrictions, making companies liable for negligence on a per-case basis. By changing the financial incentives, these policies aim to force platforms to prioritize safety over engagement-optimized designs, moving beyond the cycle of managing harm after it has already occurred.