Due to the addictive nature of their social media platforms, dozens of U.S. states have filed lawsuits against Meta Platforms and its Instagram division, claiming that they are to blame for the current crisis in juvenile mental health.
33 states, including California and Illinois, claim in a federal court complaint in Oakland, California, on Tuesday that Meta, the company that also runs Facebook, has deceived the public on multiple occasions about the serious risks associated with its platforms and has purposefully encouraged young children and teenagers to use social media in an obsessive and addictive manner.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” the complaint stated. “Its motive is profit.”
A number of remedies, including significant civil fines, are sought in the complaint.
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The Meta lawsuit is the most recent in a series of cases brought by minors and young adults against social media firms. Numerous lawsuits regarding the addictive nature of social media have been brought on behalf of children and school districts, focusing on ByteDance’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube.
Meta stated that it aimed to ensure the safety of youth on the internet.
“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 solicitors general have chosen this path,” Meta stated in a statement.
The main reason for the attention on Meta is the 2021 disclosure of documents with data indicating that Instagram, which started out as a photo-sharing software, was addictive and made adolescent females’ body image problems worse.
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The lawsuit claims that, while being aware of the vulnerability of teenage minds to the demand for validation in the form of “likes” from other users over their material, Meta actively works to ensure that young people spend as much time as possible on social media. The lawsuit claimed that Meta had falsely denied in public that its social media was damaging.
In addition, the lawsuit claimed that Meta was attempting to bring harmful practices into virtual reality through its Horizon Worlds platform and its messaging apps, Messenger and WhatsApp.
On Tuesday, nine more states are anticipated to file cases of a similar nature, increasing the total to forty-two states.
Hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed against the Menlo Park, California-based firm and other social media corporations on behalf of children and school districts bringing similar accusations.
