Meta platforms, including Instagram, have been sued by dozens of US states for contributing to a teenage mental health crisis via their addictive social media platforms.
In a federal complaint filed in Oakland, California, 33 states, including California and Illinois, accused Meta, which operates Facebook, of repeatedly misleading the public about its platforms' serious risks and knowingly enticing young children and teens into addictive and compulsive social media use, as reported by Reuters.
According to the complaint, Meta has used sophisticated technology to attract and entangle children and teenagers only for financial gain. Numerous remedies, including significant civil fines, are sought in the court case.
The latest in a slew of legal challenges brought by kids and teens against social media firms is the complaint against Meta. The apparent addictiveness of social media has led to multiple lawsuits against ByteDance-owned TikTok and Google-owned YouTube.
This picture taken on January 12, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France shows a smartphone and a computer screen displaying the logos of Instagram app and its parent company Meta.
Meta's Alleged Violations
The states contend that Meta intentionally created its Facebook and Instagram products to entice young users to stay on the sites for extended periods. The creation of its algorithms, frequent warnings and notifications, and features like "infinite scroll" via platform feeds, according to the federal lawsuit, helped Meta do this. The tech giant is also accused of fostering social comparison and bodily dysmorphia via "likes" and picture filters, which harm teens' mental health.
Meta also violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal data on under-13s without parental consent, according to the federal lawsuit. The states want Meta to halt detrimental activity and pay for the harm it's done to underage users.
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In response to the complaint, Meta noted that it had worked to ensure that young people were safe online. In a statement, company spokesperson Liza Crenshaw said that Meta is "disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path," as quoted by The Washington Post.
No Action Despite Awareness on Negative Effect on Mental Health
The 2021 leak of internal papers has given the litigation against Meta more notoriety. These records made it clear that Meta had data demonstrating that Instagram, which started as a photo-sharing platform, was addictive and hurt certain young girls' body images.
Despite being aware of these problems, the complaint claims that Meta purposefully minimized and concealed the negative consequences of its social media platforms, per CNBC. Internal research from Meta was obtained by a whistleblower and made public, revealing that the tech firm has been aware of the severe damages related to underage consumers' usage of its platforms for years.
The latest legal action against Meta comes as research into the relationship between social media use and mental health disorders continues. State governments have taken an active role in addressing issues connected to children's social media usage, even if some research has highlighted possible consequences.
States have taken the lead in putting policies in place to safeguard underage users since there is no federal law on the subject. Several governments have banned children under 13 from social media and required parental approval for teens under 18. Additionally, some US states like California have passed legislation mandating digital firms to evaluate the risks associated with their products and put in place safety and privacy protections.
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