Florida’s current Governor calls it “chump change.” One man running to replace him calls it a “step in the right direction.”
Though Ron DeSantis and Byron Donalds are showing unity as the campaign progresses post-primary, they aren’t completely aligning when it comes to an attempted settlement in a child safety case between tech giant Meta and various states, which was rejected this week as “peanuts” by Attorney General James Uthmeier.
During an interview Friday with Eric Bolling, DeSantis backed the AG. Meanwhile, during his appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” it was unclear if Donalds was even aware of the position taken by current state government.
“I think his answer is correct. $17 billion for Meta is chump change. That is a rounding error. And I think he believes that because of the harm that’s been done to children, which is real and ongoing, that Florida has a chance to get not just a sliver of $17 billion, but a much bigger judgment. And so the case goes on, and I think we’ll end up being successful,” DeSantis said Friday.
Donalds seemed to back the settlement as a way forward.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction. The apps are very addicting. There’s no doubt about that, and it’s not just kids, it’s adults, too. The amount of doom scrolling that occurs, first thing in the morning, when people get up, last thing before they go to sleep, you know, all through the day … It’s not just politics, it’s culture, it’s everything, where people are really being focused into their corner of the world based upon their own private algorithm. And that is somewhat destructive of Western civilization,” the Congressman said.
Uthmeier takes a more charitable view of Donalds’ comments.
“I disagree with this reporting. Byron is right that Meta’s proposed changes limiting young peoples’ access to addictive social media are ‘a step in the right direction’—though not enough. But the $ settlement is a rounding error that lets them off the hook for hurting kids,” he said Saturday, responding to this article after it was published.
It’s still unclear why Donalds wasn’t aware of Florida continuing the case though.
In the same interview, the Congressman also credited social media as a more comprehensive news source than what it replaced.
“In this environment, everybody having access to just about any piece of information — true or not is a side point — there’s more information flowing through everybody’s phones today than you could ever get off of the 6 o’clock news or waiting for the Saturday Evening Post. And I think more information is always better for people, not less, but you can’t have an algorithm that just traps you in with impunity. And I think that’s the issue we’re seeing in this case, and we’ll see where it goes.”
The Saturday Evening Post currently publishes every two months and is not a great source for breaking news.
Current stories include “5-Minute Fitness: Pain in the Piggies” and “Ask the Vet: All Smiles.”
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