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Meta Settlement Opens New Front in Global Fight Over Social Media Harm

The logo of Meta at the Meta Lab in Los Angeles, California, US, May 20, 2026. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta at the Meta Lab in Los Angeles, California, US, May 20, 2026. (Reuters)
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Meta Settlement Opens New Front in Global Fight Over Social Media Harm

The logo of Meta at the Meta Lab in Los Angeles, California, US, May 20, 2026. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta at the Meta Lab in Los Angeles, California, US, May 20, 2026. (Reuters)

Meta's move to restrict teenagers' use of social media in the US shows companies have tools to better protect young people online, Australian officials said on Thursday, while in the Philippines, an official said the US company had pledged to boost protection there too.

Meta's up to $18 billion settlement with nearly all US states over social media harm to teenagers has opened a new front in a global government fight to protect children and curb addiction to platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Governments around the world are trying to curb children's access to harmful online content, including a world-first ban in Australia late last year on social media for children under 16.

Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said in an email to Reuters that social media companies "have the tools at their disposal to protect ‌young people from ‌their addictive features but have chosen not to use them".

Meta agreed to pay up to $18 ‌billion ⁠over a decade ⁠and limit how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram under an agreement with nearly all US states to resolve claims that it designed those platforms to addict children. Meta denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

The deal brings sweeping changes to Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms in the United States, including imposing a default two-hour limit on its apps for users under the age of 18.

In South Korea, the media regulator said some of Meta's measures should be applied to young users worldwide, rather than just in specific markets. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said the government needed to review its potential impact for Mexico.

There were some early signs that the settlement could help other countries win similar measures.

Philippines Department of Information ⁠and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda told Reuters that both Meta and gaming platform Roblox had ‌pledged in a meeting on Thursday to tighten age verification processes in the ‌country, as well as expand parental controls and implement time limits on the social media.

The European Commission said it was waiting for Meta ‌to present changes to limit the addictive designs of its social networks.

The Commission already issued preliminary findings earlier this year that Meta ‌breached the Digital Services Act (DSA). In July, it said Facebook and Instagram should disable autoplay and endless scrolling by default, introduce screen-time breaks and change recommendation systems to reduce incentives to keep users engaged — measures that go beyond the US settlement.

In April, the Commission said Meta had failed to stop children under 13 from opening or maintaining accounts. The US settlement could make it harder for Meta to argue that tougher age-verification measures are impractical.

"We ‌have been very clear ... we expect proper screen time management, we expect proper parental control on these platforms. Meta knows ... the ball is in Meta's court," said spokesperson Thomas Regnier.

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Enforcement ⁠of restrictions in Australia has, ⁠however, been patchy so far.

Early evidence suggests the law has been undermined by weak age-verification systems, with multiple studies, including from Australia's internet regulator, showing 80% of minors were still on social media months after the ban took effect in December. That prompted lawmakers to double the maximum fine and increase regulatory powers.

In Asia, countries including China, South Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are also seeking tighter oversight of social media as well as curbs, including to block alleged scams, and in particular to protect children.

Australian class-action law firm Shine Lawyers said it was in discussions with Mark Lanier, a lawyer who worked on the California action against Meta, about a potential similar action.

"For years, families have been asking whether enough has been done to protect children from platform features designed to maximize engagement," said Shine Lawyers head of class actions Craig Allsopp.

"We are now examining whether similar legal issues arise in Australia, including whether Australian children and families may have claims connected to the design, operation and promotion of social media platforms. If Australian families have been affected, they deserve answers."

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Technology

Under Fire over AI, Effective Altruism Wants to Tell Its Own Story

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is considered a key figure in effective altruism’s early days, although he now denies any link. ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is considered a key figure in effective altruism’s early days, although he now denies any link. ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP
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Under Fire over AI, Effective Altruism Wants to Tell Its Own Story

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is considered a key figure in effective altruism’s early days, although he now denies any link. ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is considered a key figure in effective altruism’s early days, although he now denies any link. ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP

The effective altruism movement, which has close ties to the AI community and the companies leading the artificial intelligence boom, has drawn mainstream attention and accusations of cult-like behavior and alarmism.

The hard-to-define movement is still growing, and wants to better explain its values amid bitter criticism from the Trump administration and some powerful voices in Silicon Valley.

Its founding principle is to give money or time to major causes as effectively as possible, an intentionally dispassionate approach has at times been called out of touch, said AFP.

The New York Post called it a "wacky cult," the conservative Daily Caller dubbed it "The AI Doomsday Cartel," and a White House memo accused it of preferring the saving of "shrimp over families."

Once little known outside the tech world and some academic and political circles, effective altruism (EA) has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after a series of warnings about AI risks.

Those warnings were linked to EA. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and adviser to President Donald Trump, argued that organizations tied to EA are part of a "Doomer Industrial Complex" pushing for tougher AI regulation.

- 'Strange' ideas -

EA is deeply rooted in Silicon Valley and counts controlling AI's dangers among its priorities.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei is considered a key figure in EA's early days, although he now distances himself from the movement.

Anthropic president Daniela Amodei, Dario's sister, is married to Holden Karnofsky, an Anthropic employee and a leading EA proponent.

The movement has also influenced researchers and staff at other AI companies, including ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, particularly those working on AI safety.

The movement, which took shape about 15 years ago, is used to criticism.

Wealthy EA donors have often been accused of self-importance and of believing they alone know how best to give.

"Our ideas are just strange enough that people genuinely misinterpret them sometimes, and we can do a better job explaining how effective altruism approaches hard questions and tradeoffs," said Zachary Robinson, head of the Centre for Effective Altruism.

Robinson, whose organization supports the movement without directing it, sees the scrutiny since the summer as an opportunity to open up rather than retreat, because "people are curious to learn about us now."

After growing steadily until 2022, EA was badly damaged by the collapse of cryptocurrency platform FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, once the face of EA and later convicted of fraud.

After several difficult years, "We're on an up right now," Robinson said, pointing to attendance at the EA Global conference in New York in mid-October.

Like many at EA Global, Shanil Wijesinghe who works at a Canadian non-profit rejected the image of EA as monolithic. "It is a values-based movement and not an identity-based movement," he said.

"We're all trying to do the most good, with the resources we have," he said. Those values "can be interpreted differently, and I think we have to embrace those differences."

- No leader -

EA has no leader or spokesperson. Sjir Hoeijmakers, head of the charity platform Giving What We Can, said that is a good thing, even if it means "sometimes the story doesn't get told."

Still, "effective altruism is now a movement large enough that it's actually really influencing the world, and that's getting noticed," he said.

"I think the work that they're doing has been quite valuable," said Nadav Brandes, a genetics researcher also at EA Global, referring to AI safety.

"Without those pioneers... nobody would still today take this issue very seriously," he added.

Brandes said he was initially skeptical when AI became a major EA cause, joining climate change and animal welfare.

"It was even a little bit off-putting to me," he recalled. "I was totally wrong about it."

Robinson stressed, however, that EA is about more than AI.

"The cause that gets the most emphasis right now is AI safety, but I think it would be false to say EA is AI safety," he said.

"If you look at the money side of things, actually, it's been the case for many years that global health and development gets much more money than AI," he said.

Technology

Tech Firms Claw Back Some Losses after Midterms Rout, Eyes on Nvidia

Nvidia said it was launching an investigation into whether boss Jensen Huang had been targeted in a foreign espionage plot. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File
Nvidia said it was launching an investigation into whether boss Jensen Huang had been targeted in a foreign espionage plot. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File
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Tech Firms Claw Back Some Losses after Midterms Rout, Eyes on Nvidia

Nvidia said it was launching an investigation into whether boss Jensen Huang had been targeted in a foreign espionage plot. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File
Nvidia said it was launching an investigation into whether boss Jensen Huang had been targeted in a foreign espionage plot. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File

Tech firms rose Monday to claw back some of last week's painful losses fueled by AI regulation worries, though traders were keeping a wary eye on a probe into Nvidia boss Jensen Huang amid claims of an affair with a Chinese spy.

Chipmakers and other companies linked to the artificial intelligence boom took a hammering in the days after Tuesday's US midterms saw Democrats sweep both houses of Congress in a rebuke to Donald Trump and his Republican party.

The results suggested voters were angry at the president's Iran war and tariffs, which have sent prices soaring, as well as a sharp kickback against the huge data center buildout that has taken place across the country in recent years.

That has led to speculation the new Congress will seek to wind in tech firms' construction drive, which could put thousands of jobs at risk.

The uncertainty comes with traders already nervous about when the hundreds of billions of dollars pumped into the sector would actually see a profit.

After taking a lashing on Thursday, Wall Street enjoyed a little stability at the end of last week, and Asia -- which had suffered a hammering itself on Friday -- largely followed suit to start this week.

Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei -- which are heavily weighted with AI-linked tech giants -- led the advances.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 piled on more than three percent thanks to rallies in Kioxia, Tokyo Electron and Advantest, while SK hynix and Samsung piled on around three percent to push the South Korean Kospi sharply higher.

Taiwan's TSMC rocketed nearly six percent to drag the Taiex five percent higher.

There were also healthy gains in Hong Kong and Shanghai, though Sydney, Wellington and Manila edged down.

"Investors will be watching carefully this week to get a sense as to whether these gains are just short-covering, bargain hunting or the beginning of something more sustainable in nature," said Sally Auld at National Australia Bank.

"Fears around AI regulation, the outlook for (capital expenditure) and free cash flow have been the driver of risk reduction in recent weeks and these issues are not likely to be resolved with any conviction in the near term.

"Nonetheless, the valuation of many tech stocks now looks less expensive."

- Nvidia probe -

However, a little more uncertainty was injected into markets with news that Nvidia's board was launching an investigation into whether Huang had been targeted in a foreign espionage plot following his admission that he was unfaithful to his wife.

The New York Times reported last month that US intelligence officials concluded a Chinese executive linked to a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed had been funneling information to Beijing.

The executive, Alice Huang -- also known as Huang Le, and no relation to 63-year-old Taiwanese-born Jensen -- developed a close relationship with the Nvidia boss, the Times said.

Nvidia is a global leader in producing chips used to train and run AI models and one of the world's most valuable companies, and last year became the first to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion.

Jensen Huang is a huge figure in the AI revolution and a close informal adviser to Trump, and the Times said the Nvidia boss's extra-marital relationship could have revealed insights into Trump's thinking around AI.

Technology analyst Dan Ives, at investment bank Yorkville Ives, said the crisis will at the very least spark multiple congressional inquiries and "create an overhang on the stock for a myriad of reasons".

"This will add risk to the stock as he is so important to the Nvidia story and strategy globally," Ives added. "This will also increase major scrutiny regarding selling chips to China, which remains a key battleground issue in DC."

Investors will be keeping tabs this week on the release of fresh US inflation data, after figures Friday showed the economy created far more jobs than expected in October.

The figures will key for the Federal Reserve in determining whether or not to hike interest rates when it meets next in December, with markets saying there is an 80 percent chance of a lift.

Technology

Pakistan-Built Robots Serve Taste of Future to Karachi Diners

This photograph taken on October 2, 2026 shows Robia (R) and Jojo (2R), humanoid robot waitresses serving customers at the Sicilian restaurant in Karachi. (AFP)
This photograph taken on October 2, 2026 shows Robia (R) and Jojo (2R), humanoid robot waitresses serving customers at the Sicilian restaurant in Karachi. (AFP)
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Pakistan-Built Robots Serve Taste of Future to Karachi Diners

This photograph taken on October 2, 2026 shows Robia (R) and Jojo (2R), humanoid robot waitresses serving customers at the Sicilian restaurant in Karachi. (AFP)
This photograph taken on October 2, 2026 shows Robia (R) and Jojo (2R), humanoid robot waitresses serving customers at the Sicilian restaurant in Karachi. (AFP)

Wheeling its way between dining booths at a neon-lit restaurant in Pakistan's Karachi megacity, a robot waitress drops off a fresh pizza to an awaiting family.

While global buzz is growing around agile humanoids made in the United States, China and elsewhere, robotic staff are a rare sight in the South Asian country.

"Welcome to Sicilian. My name is Robia," the waitress says in an electronic voice, looking down at diners through blinking red LED eyes.

Robia and her colleague Jojo are the DIY creations of Pakistani engineer Syed Osama Aziz, who is bringing a sci-fi reboot to Karachi's storied dining scene.

They have spherical white heads and dark visors, similar to a motorcycle helmet, and sport black shawls around their neck in the style of a dupatta worn by women in the region.

Aziz, who also established The Sicilian restaurant, developed the machines using mostly locally manufactured parts, designing their circuit boards and programming them in his own lab.

"The equipment, the things needed to make robots, are not so easily available here, so we had to arrange them," he told AFP.

The duo were developed through his robotics company, Cobot, with help from friends and some electronic components imported from abroad.

In China and other East Asian countries especially, robots are an increasingly common sight, shuttling food to customers in chain restaurants and taking on other jobs from cleaning to greeting hotel guests.

But they remain a novelty in Pakistan, where Aziz's home-grown creations are attracting curious diners.

When they arrive at a table, the customers must either take the food off their serving tray themselves or wait for a human member of staff to assist them.

- Excited customers -

Aziz, whose workshop manufacturing the robots is located in Multan in Pakistan's central Punjab province, hopes to make his creations more sophisticated in the future.

"Our plans are to add camera-based processing and image-processing features," he said.

"That means the robot will also recognize you by looking at you, and it will remember what you ordered last time, and accordingly it will be able to give you better suggestions."

For now, the robots are proving a hit with families, who flock to the restaurant to watch the machines in action.

"The best thing about it is that it introduces itself," excited customer Ahmer Zameer told AFP, explaining the robot also "tells you what things you can order".

Children reach out to touch the robots while their parents snap photographs and selfies.

Young customer Sonia Dilosker said she was impressed by the androids' appearance and preferred their approach to serving customers, "because it is a machine and without any emotions".

Restaurant staff say the novelty has brought a surge in customers -- some travelling from across the sprawling port city to meet the robots.

"Our business has grown. People are coming from far away for this. They have seen a robot for the first time here," staff member Hellen told AFP.

"People are excited to see this."