Meta, the parent company of Facebook, collects personal information of children under the age of 13 and also caused a mental health crisis among youth by making its Instagram social media platform addictive. This is according to a new whopping civil suit brought by 33 US states, led by Colorado and California.
Filed in an Oakland California federal court, the suit alleges Meta’s services caused depression, anxiety, and insomnia in young children.
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“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. 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,” alleges the suit. “It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.”
The suit also charges that Meta “designed psychologically manipulative product features to induce young users’ compulsive and extended use” of its platforms.
There is nothing new to such an allegation against Facebook/Meta. The company has been vilified for how it did nothing about how its social media platform Instagram harmed young girls. And a whistleblower said that Facebook, the parent company of Instagram, was aware of the psychological effects Instagram had on the young and still took no action.
Facebook was also criticized for not taking action sooner to stop the proliferation of fake news and racist content on its platform.
“Kids and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health and social media companies like Meta are to blame,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem.”
“Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line.”
Meta responded saying, “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.”
Meta also said that it has “already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families.”
