“The evidence at trial points to a genuine wrong, but it is not a design defect. It is more straightforward: these companies knew their services posed foreseeable risks to young users and failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate those risks. That is a duty-of-care problem, and it calls for a duty-of-care solution.”
#dutyofcare https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/04/why-the-social-media-verdict-on-defective-design-gets-the-instinct-right-but-the-law-wrong/
Why the Verdict on Social Media Defective Design Harming Children Gets the Instinct Right But the Law Wrong - Michael Geist
A California jury's decision last week to hold Meta and YouTube liable for harms to a young woman's mental health has been greeted as a watershed moment. Child safety advocates have called it Big Tech's "Big Tobacco moment." Parents who lost children to what they attribute to social media addiction embraced outside the courthouse. Commentators who have long argued that social media companies bear responsibility for the damage their services inflict on young users see the verdict as vindication. My Globe and Mail op-ed notes that the instinct behind the decision is understandable. The evidence at trial was damning, as internal Meta documents showed the company knew Instagram was harming adolescents but continued targeting them anyway. But the legal theory the jury endorsed – that social media platforms are defectively designed products – is the wrong tool for a real problem, and building on it risks undermining the very accountability the strategy seeks to deliver.
Final post of the series. Safeguarding rarely arrives with sirens. Children already care. Risks are now formally recognised. Schools sit inside these systems. What does 'reasonable responsibility' look like?
#Safeguarding #ClimateLiteracy #Education #DutyOfCare #ChildWellbeing
http://geogramblings.com/2026/02/01/climate-literacy-as-safeguarding-what-reasonable-professional-responsibility-looks-like/
Climate literacy as safeguarding: What reasonable professional responsibility looks like
The final part of the “This isn’t activism, it’s duty of care”. Here I propose five ‘reasonable responsibilties’ of educators regarding climate change and its im…
School carbon data tells a truth: most emissions come from systems pupils don’t control—transport, food, procurement.
When responsibility is misplaced, harm can follow. #Safeguarding means aligning language with reality.
#SchoolCarbon #ClimateEducation #SystemsThinking #DutyOfCare
http://geogramblings.com/2026/01/28/what-school-carbon-data-reveals-about-responsibility-modelling-and-care/
Schools are not neutral: What school carbon data reveals about responsibility, modelling, and care
Part 3 of the “This Isn’t Activism: It’s a Duty of Care” series discusses the findings of the Count Your Carbon 2026 report, which analyses carbon emissions from over 1,600 …
Climate literacy isn’t activism—it’s duty of care.
Three recent reports (children & nature, school carbon, national security) quietly shift what’s reasonable to ignore in education.
This series starts here https://geogramblings.com/2026/01/23/what-three-recent-reports-tell-us-about-climate-change-young-people-and-responsibility-in-education/
#Safeguarding #Education #ClimateRisk #DutyOfCare
This isn’t activism, it’s duty of care: What three recent reports tell us about climate change, young people, and responsibility in education
The start of a series of blog posts focusing on climate literacy and institutional responsibility, examining the complex issues children face. By analysing recent reports, the series aims to slow d…
Online Safety “Duty of Care” is failing to launch in the USA? Good.
Key to the Online Safety Act was a novel idea from UK academics Lorna Woods & William Perrin that Online Harm is like Physical Harm, so platforms and venues both should have “duties of ca…
Online Safety “Duty of Care” is failing to launch in the USA? Good.
Key to the Online Safety Act was a novel idea from UK academics Lorna Woods & William Perrin that Online Harm is like Physical Harm, so platforms and venues both should have “duties of ca…
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