There is a question that journalists learn to consider often which we should all get better at asking: why now? Any time a story crosses their orbit and they consider writing about it, one of the most fundamental questions they will often start from is trying to understand the timing behind the story. This week Meta announced a “fully fanded” curriculum to teach middle schoolers how to recognize forms of online exploitation, such as sextortion scams and grooming.
This is not a new problem. So why now? One answer is because of the increasing pressure from governments around the world to keep kids off social media entirely. Australia banned it for kids under 16. The U.S. Senate has introduced the “Kids Off Social Media Act.”
That’s the bigger picture that’s easy to miss. Kids are safer online because of online regulations and what that regulation incentivizes companies like Meta to do in response. As President Trump moves rapidly towards deregulation in nearly every sector, this is a story we need to hear more about. Regulation isn’t just red tape and bureaucracy that needs to be fully eliminated. Sometimes it is the only way to create incentives for companies to behave more ethically and actually put people before profits.
