33 US states filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company for social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, on Tuesday over claims that the tech giant consciously tailored and marketed its services to exploit young users for the sake of profit. States such as California, New York, Illinois and the territory of the District of Columbia joined in the lawsuit against Meta.
The states’ central grievances fell into four categories:
(1) [T]hrough its development of Instagram and Facebook, Meta created a business model focused on maximizing young users’ time and attention spent on its Social Media Platforms; (2) Meta designed and deployed harmful and psychologically manipulative product features to induce young users’ compulsive and extended Platform use, while falsely assuring the public that its features were safe and suitable for young users; (3) , while routinely publishing misleading reports boasting a deceptively low incidence of user harms; and (4) despite overwhelming internal research, independent expert analysis, and publicly available data that its Social Media Platforms harm young users, Meta still refuses to abandon its use of known harmful features—and has instead redoubled its efforts to misrepresent, conceal, and downplay the impact of those features on young users’ mental and physical health
The lawsuit argues that Meta’s “unfair and/or deceptive acts or practices under the state consumer protection statutes” violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) “and further constitut[e] unlawful acts under common law principles.” The COPPA established certain regulations for websites and online services operating who operate in the US and provide their services to or collect personal information from children under the age of 13. Specifically, the 33 states argue that Meta has collected the data of young users of their platforms, without parents’ permission. Meta has previously faced legal challenges due to its data privacy practices.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul commented on the lawsuit, “Our children are in crisis, and we need to act.” He went on to state that Meta’s “addictive features” could potentially “affect an entire generation of young people,” and called the lawsuit “one of — if not the most — important consumer protection actions” filed by his office. California Attorney General Rob Bonta echoed Raoul alongside New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said, “Social media companies, including Meta, have contributed to a national youth mental health crisis and they must be held accountable.”
The 33 states seek an injunction to curb Meta’s alleged exploitation of young users. The case is currently filed before a federal court in California.
