While politicians sit on their hands, we’re taking on Meta

This week Keir Starmer met with the makers of the TV series Adolescence and told them Netflix’s hit drama was “really hard to watch”. But it’s harder to watch politicians wringing their hands over the dangers of the internet and refusing to do anything about it.

It’s not just about introverted teenage boys watching Andrew Tate videos. Or your parents and their increasingly outlandish views about how the climate crisis is a hoax because of something they read on Facebook. Or the latest wellness influencer hawking the made-up health benefits of raw milk.

It’s about how Instagram, Facebook and Threads are full of disinformation and conspiracy theories, much of which is paid content. These are all platforms owned by the billionaire tech bro and buddy of Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg.

Things were already bad enough before Zuckerberg sacked the fact checkers, but now his platforms are like the wild west. Not so much about freedom of speech as the freedom to make money out of feeding us disinformation and dodgy ads through its recommender algorithms.

We have to break his grip on our data.

Meta treats its EU and UK users differently despite the same laws applying. That’s why we’re taking legal action.

Working with tech legal experts at AWO, we’re demanding Meta answers a simple question: Why is it forcing UK users to accept invasive paid content?

We’ve also launched a simple tool so everyone can demand Zuckerberg stops using their data to target them with invasive paid content.

It’s time to break Meta’s stranglehold on our data. This time it’s personal.

• Take action now: tell Meta to stop targeting you