00:00Settlements, you know, don't necessarily indicate guilt or any of those sorts of things,
00:04but it does certainly show that TikTok does not want this type of information to come out at trial
00:10and for them to be judged on the merits of the case.
00:15It might also indicate on the flip side of that coin, to be fair,
00:18that the plaintiffs realize there are some arguments to be had on the side of the tech companies
00:23that might ultimately prevail as a legal matter.
00:26The one thing that we do know and the reason why they have to make that argument
00:29is because the Supreme Court has said that the content displayed by Facebook
00:36and their algorithms themselves are free speech.
00:41So in other words, if I wanted to design an algorithm that only showed you certain things,
00:45that's fine, that's freedom of speech.
00:48The problem becomes, though, I can show you those sorts of things,
00:51but am I doing things additionally to make you addicted to them, to make you come back for more?
00:56And we know, for example, that social media companies have studied casino-style techniques
01:01about reward systems and behaviors and how to get the most out of dopamine in individuals' brains.
01:06You sit there and you may be enjoying your TikTok or your Facebook or whatever it might be,
01:11but what you don't realize is that the consequence of you being on this free product
01:15is the pilfering of your privacy for profit.
01:17Your data is being bought and sold, and the consequence of that is you're being categorized.
01:23Are you an influencer or are you someone who can be influenced?
01:27So this is an entire economy built on your data, and by getting you addicted to it,
01:32they're able to get something for free that they would otherwise have to pay for.
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