Members of the media may directly contact the following uOttawa academic experts:
Florian Martin-Bariteau (English and French)
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law - Common Law Section; University Research Chair in Technology and Society; and Director of AI + Society Initiative and the Centre for Law, Technology and Society.
Professor Martin-Bariteau's research focuses on technology law, ethics and policy with special attention dedicated to platform governance and online harms.
Myriam Brouard (English and French)
Assistant Professor, Telfer School of Management.
Professor Brouard specializes in Consumer Culture Theory, offering insight into modern consumer behaviour. Her research explores social media marketing, digital media consumption and binge consumption.
“Meta has not really admitted any wrongdoing and will frame this as a business decision. The recognition of the dangers of social media are being acknowledged by governments like Australia and Canada who are restricting the age to access these platforms, which thrive on consumer engagement. Their whole business model runs on the attention economy so whatever age children can get on these platforms, they are still designed to encourage heavy participation.
I don't think that the settlement will erode Meta’s brand because most users already have a skeptical view of social media companies. But this should open a door for all of the other lawsuits that are already in play for the other social media sites.”
Dr. Michael Cheng (English only)
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine.
[email protected]
Dr. Cheng’s research focuses on children’s mental health wellness, amid the challenge of technology, including screens and social media in modern society.
“Tech companies make addictive products, and we now realize these can be harmful, such as social media. There needs to be financial consequences for harms because, otherwise, companies do not seem capable of making changes on their own.”
David Fewer (English and French)
Full Professor, Faculty of Law – Common Law Section, and General Counsel of the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC).
Professor Fewer’s research tackles intellectual property and technology law issues. He can discuss consumer-protection issues surrounding this topic.
"Meta is paying a substantial sum to contain litigation risk while avoiding judgments that could establish broader principles governing platform design and privacy, which makes the settlements commercially significant. It suggests Meta is likely to make similar moves to address certified class actions in other jurisdictions, including Canada.
It also suggests that Canadian regulators might look to setting legal protections that reflect the protections Meta has agreed to here. One way to look at this: Meta has determined that authorities were going to draw a line – it’s better if it was involved in drawing those lines than risking the imposition of more stringent rules.”