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Meta is being sued by dozens of states in the US over claims that its social media platforms are intentionally addicting young people and harming their mental health.
The lawsuit, submitted by attorney generals, claims Meta is contributing to a youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” the lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, states.
“Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its social media platforms.
“It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.”
The states also claim research has associated children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms with “depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes”.
The lawsuit is a result of a nationwide investigation announced in 2021 by Robert Bonta, the attorney general of California, which looked at how Meta was promoting Instagram to children and young adults “despite knowing that such use is associated with physical and mental health harms”.
The broad-ranging lawsuit includes the claim that Meta knowingly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting data on children under 13 without informing and getting permission from their parents – despite the fact that social media…
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