When Meta agreed to pay somewhere between £8.9 billion and £12.6 billion to settle US states’ claims about harm to children on Facebook and Instagram, most coverage focused on the scale of the figure. For those of us working in college marketing and PR, the more unsettling detail was in the allegations themselves: that social media platforms had been designed to encourage compulsive use by children, that the harms were documented internally and that parents were not adequately warned. The settlement is not an admission of liability, but the picture it paints shouldn’t be forgotten when planning a recruitment cycle that still depends heavily on those platforms. Become a member for unlimited access to FE Week Our members enjoy early access to exclusive content and in-depth articles before anyone else. Get expert journalism on FE and skills, experience fewer ads, and unlock a growing range of member benefits. subscribe If you have an account, please login. Sign in