posted in Technology
Meta fined $567m in largest child safety ruling against social media giant
www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7lz3wr2rlo
www.bbc.comMeta told to pay another $567m in New Mexico child safety lawsuitA New Mexico judge ordered the Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp parent company to pay another $567m for the way it has harmed children.
Replying to @TryingToBeGood@reddthat.com
For fucks sake can we stop doing flat dollar amount fines on megacorps and do percentage of revenue - yes, revenue specifically, not profit, which can be gamed in tons of interesting ways - as punitive measures? Even astronomical 8 or 9 figure fines on companies with market caps in the ballpark of a trillion fucking dollars are effectively brushed off as the cost of doing business, and are ultimately inconsequential and entirely ineffective in terms of serving as a meaningful deterrent to the things they’re being fined for.
Meta is not going to give a single shit about this. This is a small speed bump, nothing more.
Replying to @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
Spot on. Until fines are levied as a non-negotiable percentage of global annual revenue—just like the EU attempted with GDPR and the DMA—these payouts are literally baked into their operational budgets as an expected line item. If breaking the law nets $5 billion and the fine is $500 million, that’s not a penalty; that’s a 90% profit margin on corporate crime.