Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testing out Orion AR glasses at Meta Connect’s annual event held on September 25, 2024 at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters
Since losing her 15-year-old son Riley to suicide following the sexttorm scheme through Meta’s messenger app, Mary Rodie has been working with the advocacy group to seek strong protection for children online.
“I’m holding them accountable,” Roddy said. Meta An interview with CNBC. “They are responsible for the safety of their users.”
Roddy is one of many parents who are increasingly critical of organizations that are supposed to help their children stay safe, but are supposed to help them accept money from Meta and other social media companies. Among these groups is the National Association of Parent Teachers.
The National PTA is a nonprofit with over 20,000 chapters and nearly 4 million members nationwide, working with schools and families to advocate for children. The group’s website states that its members “share our commitment to improving education, health and safety for all children.”
A report released Tuesday by Tech Dog organization Tech Transparency Project claims that the group’s relationship with Meta is “giving a “light of expert approval” to social media companies’ “employment to engage young users in the platform.” The report argues that Meta’s tactics are being used to counter concerns that services like Instagram could be harmful to teens to shape the public narrative.
“Meta is increasing pressure on the impact on children and their well-being, so the company responded with a variety of tactics to influence public debate,” writes TTP.
TTP has been sponsoring the national PTA for many years, but education advocacy groups have always promoted the company’s child safety initiatives without focusing on financial relationships.
National PTA and Meta, the parent companies of Facebook and Instagram, have been working together since at least 2010. Meta’s presence is listed in group events and social media posts.
“That’s not allowed,” said Roddy of Canton, New York. “I can’t get over these groups that convince myself that there’s no blood in their hands and that this money is pretty.”
Both Meta and the National PTA refused to share how much the social media companies contributed to the group.
“Like many other tech companies, we are proud to partner with professional organizations to educate parents about our safety tools and teenage protection,” a Meta spokesman told CNBC in a statement.
In a statement to CNBC, the National PTA said it would not support social media platforms and would make sponsorships from Meta “sitting at the table” and “a strong, clear voice for parents and children.”
“The collaboration with Meta will provide the opportunity to inform families about the safety of the app, providing available tools (such as parental controls, age group features) and resources (such as parental guides, online safety centres, etc.),” the National PTA said in a statement.
Mary Roddy lost her 15-year-old son Riley after committing suicide following a sextori plan through Meta’s messenger app.
Mary Roddy
TTP wrote in the report that Meta worked with the National PTA in 2017 to help roll out Messenger Kids, a chat app for children under the age of 13. Facebook became the founding sponsor of the PTA Connected initiative the following year in 2018, the National PTA said in a statement to CNBC.
National PTAs often support meta products on their Instagram accounts. For example, a post shared in June shows a group of PTA members from the Digital Safety Workshop in front of a poster with the Meta and the National PTA logo.
Roddy’s son, Riley, was a victim of sextori on Meta’s platform. Sexttort is the act of threatening to expose sexual compromise information unless certain requests are met. He was threatened by someone appearing like a teenage girl on Facebook Messenger, Roddy said.
The fake account asked Riley to pay $3,500. He then took his life, Roddy said. Such sextomy schemes are on the rise across social media. According to the Department of Justice, the US Department of Homeland Security received more than 3,000 tips for analyses in 2022.
The Federal Trade Commission denounced in 2023 that parents mislead meta’s ability to control who their children communicate with on the Messenger Kids app. Meta denied fraud and challenged both the restrictions proposed by the FTC and the constitutionality of the institutional process.
The federal master’s complaints filed in California by school districts and local governments in California in March 2024 claims that platforms such as Instagram and Facebook were intentionally designed to be addictive to younger users as part of a multi-district lawsuit against a major social media company. The complaint designates the National PTA as one of the organizations Meta uses to reach children in schools.
“Instagram might try to characterize this work as helping to address mental health issues among young people, but other documents have been more open about using this as a strategy to attract more teenage users,” Filing said. “The goal of the parents’ planning was: “Let my parents think, my kids are taking part in social media, and my favorite app they have is Instagram, bar none.” ”
In September 2024, Meta announced her Instagram teenage account. This will provide users with specific protections for apps between 13 and 17. The release announcing the account included a quote from National PTA President Yvonne Johnson without revealing that Meta is the organization’s national sponsor.
“Given the view that parents today tackle the benefits and challenges of the internet and digital media for teens, our association praises Meta for launching an Instagram teen account,” Johnson said in the release.
I’ve received a variety of responses regarding how effectively the Teen account feature on Instagram is to protect my child. According to a ParentStogether report, some users saw inappropriate content on Instagram.
“We’re excited to be able to help you get started,” said Shelby Knox, Director of Online Safety Campaigns at ParentStogether.
A Meta spokesperson said teenage accounts are giving protections to limit who can contact teens on Instagram.
Other parent groups, like us, free smartphone childhoods and parents in safe online spaces, have reached out to the national PTA to express concerns about accepting money from social media companies that say it’s dangerous for children.
Other sponsors for the National PTA include Google, YouTube, Tiktok and Discord.
In 2024, Tiktok gave programs relating to teens and social media with over $300,000 PTAs.
According to the TTP report, PTA is just an example of Meta’s strategy. Meta also created Trust Transparency & Control Labs in 2017, also known as TTC Labs. This organization works to cooperate with safety efforts.
TTC Labs is clearly labelled as a meta creation, but TTC produces reports on Instagram teenage accounts and Horizon Worlds. Meta cites these reports as evidence of their commitment to child safety.
Meta and other social media platforms have been accused of causing harm to children.
A bipartisan group of 42 lawyer generals sued Meta in 2023, with Facebook and Instagram features being addictive and targeting children and teens.
In July, Meta said it had eliminated 600,000 profiles linked to predatory behavior and increased direct messaging protections on Instagram.
“Because school PTAs are trustworthy organizations, the support of businesses that use people and children for the benefit is unacceptable,” Roddy said.
If you have a suicide idea or are suffering, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for assistance and support from a trained counselor.
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