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Instagram boss Adam Mosseri reportedly blocked or weakened efforts by employees to implement youth safety features even as parent company Meta faced mounting legal scrutiny over concerns that its popular social media apps were harming young users.

Mosseri whose name appears frequently in a sweeping lawsuit filed by 33 states accusing Meta of loading its apps with addictive features that hurt youth mental health — reportedly ignored pressure from employees to install some proposed safety features as default settings for Instagram users, according to The Information.

Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook have come under fire from critics who allege their use has fueled a slew of alarming trends among youth, including increased depression, anxiety, insomnia, body image issues and eating disorders.

Nevertheless, Instagram brass rejected a push by members of the companys “well-being team” to include app features that would encourage users not to compare themselves to others, the report said, citing three former employees with knowledge of the details.

The feature wasnt implemented despite Mosseris own admission in an internal email that he saw “social comparison” as the “existential question Instagram faces and that social comparison is to Instagram [what] election interference is to Facebook, according to the states lawsuit.

Additionally, a Mosseri-backed feature to address the social comparison problem by hiding like counts on Instagram was ultimately watered down into an optional setting that users could manually enable, the report said.

Internally, some company employees reportedly featured that the like-hiding tool would hurt engagement on the app and therefore cut into advertising revenue.

While some sources praised Mosseris commitment to promoting youth safety, others told The Information that Instagram has a pattern of making such features optional rather than automatically implementing them.

A Meta spokesperson didn’t respond specifically to questions about why the company rejected proposals for tools to counter problems arising from the social comparison issue.

We cant know what prompts any given individual to compare themselves to others, so we give people tools to decide for themselves what they do and dont want to see on Instagram,” a Meta spokesperson told the outlet.

Meta didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from The Post.

Elsewhere, Mosseri allegedly opposed use of a tool that would have automatically blocked offensive words in direct message requests because he thought it might stop legitimate messages getting through, The Information reported, citing two former employees.

Ultimately, Instagram approved an optional filter feature in 2021 that allowed users to block a list of offensive words curated by the company or to compile their own list of offensive phrases and emojis they wanted to block.

The move reportedly rankled safety staffers, including ex-Meta engineer Arturo Bjar, who felt people of color should not be forced to confront the offensive words in order to deal with the problem. In November, Bjar testified before a Senate panel regarding harmful content on Instagram.

I went back to Instagram with the hope that Adam would be proactive about these issues and I had no evidence of that in the two years I was there, Bjar, who had initially left Meta in 2015 and returned to a role on the safety team in 2019, told the outlet.

Meta pushed back on the report, noting that Instagram has introduced a series of default safety features for its teen users, such as blocking adults 19 and older from sending direct messages to teen accounts that dont follow them.

For example, Meta said its tool hiding offensive phrases and emojis, called Hidden Words, will be enabled by default for teens starting in 2024. The company said it has made more than 20 policy announcements about teen safety since Mosseri took over Instagram in 2018.

Mosseri also responded, writing that further investments in platform safety will make our business stronger.

If teens come to Instagram and feel bullied, get unwanted advances, or see content that upsets them, theyll leave and go to one of our competitors, Mosseri said. I know how important this work is, and that my leadership will be defined by how much progress we make on it. Im committed to continuing to do more.

Mosseri was one of several Meta executives to draw scrutiny as part of a sweeping lawsuit filed in October by a coalition of 33 state attorneys general.

The suit alleged in part that Metas millions of underage Instagram users were an open secret at the company.

The suit includes an internal chat from November 2021 in which Mosseri seemingly acknowledged the apps problem with underage users, writing, tweens want access to Instagram, and they like about their age to get it now.

A month later, Mosseri testified to the Senate that children under age 13 were not permitted on Instagram. He also told lawmakers that he viewed youth online safety as critically important.

Aside from the states’ legal challenge, Meta faces another lawsuit from the state of New Mexico alleging it failed to protect young users from alleged sexual predators and bombarded them with adult sex content.

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5-star wide receiver Moore decommits from LSU

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5-star wide receiver Moore decommits from LSU

Five-star wide receiver Dakorien Moore decommitted from LSU on Wednesday.

Moore is the No. 3 prospect overall in the 2025 class, and a 5-foot-11, 185-pound recruit from Duncanville, Texas. He had been committed to the Tigers since August, but announced on Wednesday that he is reopening his recruitment.

In his announcement on X (formerly twitter), Moore said that he will not be considering new offers from schools.

Prior to committing to LSU, he had Ohio State, Oregon and Texas in his top group, and those three schools have continued to recruit him despite his commitment to LSU.

He was the second-highest ranked commitment in the class for LSU, behind No. 2 ranked Bryce Underwood, a five-star quarterback out of Belleville, Michigan.

Despite Moore’s decommitment, LSU still has six ESPN 300 commitments, including Underwood, the No. 1 ranked running back Harlem Berry, cornerback Jaboree Antoine, offensive linemen Devin Harper and Tyler Miller, as well as linebacker Charles Ross.

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Michigan to sell alcohol at football games in ’24

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Michigan to sell alcohol at football games in '24

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Alcohol sales will begin this football season at Michigan Stadium, following the lead of in-state rival Michigan State and a trend of booze being made available at college sports venues across the nation.

The Michigan athletic department made the announcement Thursday following successful rollouts of alcohol sales at its hockey and basketball arenas. The university’s board of regents voted to implement a liquor license at the “Big House” starting with the Aug. 31 opener against Fresno State.

According to a survey by The Associated Press of Power Five conference schools and Notre Dame, 55 of 69 sold alcohol in the public areas of their stadiums last season. Michigan State, Kentucky and Stanford began alcohol sales at their football stadiums in 2023.

Michigan started alcohol sales at Yost Ice Arena and Crisler Center in February as a trial run for sales at the football stadium. The athletic department said there were no reported issues related to drunken behavior or medical responses.

Fans will be required to show identification while making a purchase, and each sale will be limited to two alcoholic beverages per legal drinking age person.

The athletic department said alcohol revenue will be used for operational expenses, and a portion will be directed to the university to help fund campus research projects.

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Hunter, Ewers, Edwards share video game cover

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Hunter, Ewers, Edwards share video game cover

DALLAS — After dazzling at cornerback and wide receiver for Colorado in 2023, Travis Hunter often hears people describe him as a video game player. Now he is on the cover of the long-anticipated return of the college football video game from EA Sports.

Hunter, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Michigan running back Donovan Edwards share the cover of EA Sports College Football 25, set to be released July 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The popular game, which has been on hiatus since 2014, will include all 134 FBS teams and the names, images and likenesses of a large majority of current players.

Eight days after EA Sports set up NIL deals for current college players, more than 10,000 had opted in to the game. Each player who opted in will receive $600 and a copy of the game, valued at around $70. Hunter and Ewers were among the first high-profile players to opt in.

The main cover shows Hunter in the middle with Ewers to his right and Edwards to his left. The cover for the deluxe edition displays the backs of Hunter, Ewers and Edwards in the tunnel at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, where an extensive photo and video shoot took place in early March.

“It’s just a blessing to be able to be on the cover,” Hunter told ESPN. “We grew up watching this and looking at the covers, and now we’re on it. When I was young, I waited till 12 o’clock to get every NCAA. It was my favorite game by far. I still play the old NCAA 14 to this day.”

Hunter has created himself in the previous games, saying, “I’m a 90-something [rating] overall, so I’m pretty good, but my speed is kind of slow.”

Former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson was on the cover for NCAA Football 14. The last shared cover, for NCAA Football 13, featured Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner, and 1988 Heisman winner Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State.

Like Hunter, Ewers has played the older versions of the game after EA Sports stopped producing it in the wake of a lawsuit filed by former players over the use of their names, images and likenesses.

“Obviously, I grew up in an era of playing this game, as it was big for my age group,” Ewers told ESPN. “It’s been, what, 10 years now since this NCAA game has come out, and to be on the cover with these two guys, I can’t really put it into words. It’s just an honor.”

EA Sports announced the planned return of the game in early 2021 and in December 2022 said the game would be released summer 2024. Every FBS school will be represented, along with the College Football Playoff and bowl games. Dynasty and Road to Glory modes — two features in the previous NCAA games that were immensely popular — will return to the game, which will also feature facets of the transfer portal and NIL.

Ewers and Hunter knew each other previously and connected with Edwards before the cover shoot. They posed for pictures together around the Cotton Bowl and did videos, including Ewers throwing a downfield pass to Hunter, who had 57 receptions for 721 yards and five touchdowns last season to go along with three interceptions and five pass breakups on defense.

“Donovan, Quinn and Travis are extraordinary talents who impressed and entertained millions of college football fans on the field last season and are poised to do so again this year,” Daryl Holt, senior vice president and group general manager of EA Sports, said in a statement. “We’re proud to be able to incorporate thousands of current athletes in College Football 25, and featuring this trio of playmakers and their iconic college programs on the cover is a perfect fit as we usher in a new era for EA SPORTS and college football.”

The photo shoot also included actors dressed in uniforms for Notre Dame, Georgia, Alabama, USC, Ohio State, Florida and Oregon. Other than Hunter, Ewers and Edwards, the cover includes jerseys showing the names of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.

Edwards grew up playing NCAA Football and Call of Duty and described NCAA Football as “the best game that I ever played.”

“Just the fact that it hasn’t come out for a decade, you miss it more,” said Edwards, who had 497 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 2023. “The graphics were top tier, the play style was top tier, there was no lag, no glitches in there. I’m just very blessed to be able to be on the cover and to be able to represent the University of Michigan.”

ESPN’s Michael Rothstein contributed to this report.

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