Dozens of US states sue Meta for harming children

(Patria) - Dozens of US states on Tuesday accused Facebook and Instagram owner Meta of profiting "from children's pain," harming their mental health and deceiving people about the safety of the platforms, AFP reported.

"Seeking to maximize its financial profit, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the significant dangers of its social media platforms," the joint lawsuit filed in a federal court in California alleges. In total, more than 40 states are suing Meta, although some have decided to file in local courts rather than join the federal case.

Meta exploited young users by creating a business model designed to maximize the time they spend on the platform despite the harm to their health, the filing alleges.

"Children and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health, and social networks like Meta are to blame," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

"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," she added.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of deception and unlawful conduct that harms vulnerable youth for financial gain. It asks the federal court to order Meta to stop its manipulative tactics and pay substantial fines along with restitution.

"Social media companies, including Meta, have contributed to a national youth mental health crisis and must be held accountable," James said.

Meta says it is "disappointed" by the lawsuit and that states are not working with social media companies to create age-appropriate standards. Meta claims it has developed more than 30 tools in its apps to support teenage users and made it easier for parents to "shape" online activities.

The tech firm says it is disappointing that state attorneys general have singled out Meta instead of seeking industry-wide solutions given the popularity of rivals including TikTok, YouTube and Snap. Social media can also be a place where young people struggling with other issues in life go to find community support, Meta believes.

The investigation was launched after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen gave the media more than 20,000 pages of internal documents that sparked criticism that the company put profit ahead of user safety. During testimony before US and European lawmakers in 2021, she insisted that Facebook had failed to reduce toxic content and that the company could not be trusted to change its ways.
Facebook later that year changed its name to Meta in a move critics suspected was intended to distance the company from the controversy surrounding social networks. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the company at the time, saying that "the argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical."