Meta was slapped with a bombshell lawsuit by nearly three dozen states on Tuesday alleging the Facebook and Instagram parent has fueled a youth mental health crisis by exploiting the addictive nature of their social media platforms.
The joint lawsuit, filed in California federal court by 33 states including New York, alleges that Meta has “ignored the sweeping damage these platforms have caused to the mental and physical health of our nation’s youth” and engaged in “deceptive and unlawful conduct.”
The attorneys general of Washington D.C. and eight other states filed similar separate suits on Tuesday.
The lawsuits represent yet another legal headache for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has faced mounting criticism in recent years for failing to protect teen users from harmful content. Rival apps such as China-owned TikTok have faced similar scrutiny.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” the complaint says. “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.”
The states say Meta has embraced a business model designed to maximize the amount of time teen users spend on its apps through “harmful and psychologically manipulative product features,” despite making public assurances that they are safe.
They cite research showing that Meta-owned social apps are “associated with depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.”
The lawsuit targets Meta for its use of “dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms,” an emphasis on a “likes” system that was “known by Meta to harm young users,” alerts that nudged young users to use Facebook and Instagram at night or during school and visual “filters” that allegedly fueled body dysmorphia.
It also alleges that Meta violated a law blocking the collection of personal data from users under 13.
The states are seeking unspecified financial damages, as well as “injunctive relief” blocking Meta from engaging in the harmful business practices outlined in the suit.
When reached for comment, a Meta spokesperson said the company shares a commitment to protecting underage users and has “already introduced more than 30 tools to support teens and their families,” including age verification and parental supervision services.
“We’re 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,” the Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
Meta blocks users under 13 from using Instagram and does not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13, the spokesperson added.
Scrutiny of Facebook’s business practices has intensified since 2021, when whistleblower and former Facebook employee Frances Haugen testified on Capitol Hill that the company repeatedly prioritized profits over safety despite internal research showing its platforms were causing harm.
Haugen provided documents to the Wall Street Journal to back up her claims – including one internal presentation from March 2020 that showed “32 percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.”
The lawsuit makes reference to Haugen’s allegations, asserting that Meta executives, including Zuckerberg, publicly downplayed safety concerns as well as the findings of its own researchers.
Additionally, the states allege that Meta “appears to be expanding the use” of harmful practices into other products, including the “Horizon Worlds” metaverse and WhatsApp, rather than cracking down.
With Post wires
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