The New York Times (10/24, Kang, Singer) reports, “Meta was sued by more than three dozen states on Tuesday for knowingly using features on Instagram and Facebook to hook children to its platforms, even as the company said its social media sites were safe for young people.” The coalition of 33 states “said that Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger – violated consumer protection laws by unfairly ensnaring children and deceiving users about the safety of its platforms.” Washington, DC, “and eight other states filed separate lawsuits on Tuesday against Meta with most of the same claims.”
The Washington Post (10/24, Lima, Nix) reports, “The barrage of lawsuits is the culmination of a sprawling 2021 investigation into claims that Meta contributes to mental health issues among young people.” The states’ “federal complaint alleges that the company engaged in a ‘scheme to exploit young users for profit’ by misleading users about its safety features and the prevalence of harmful content on its products, harvesting data from younger users and violating federal laws on children’s privacy.” Furthermore, “state officials claim that the company knowingly deployed changes to keep kids on the site to the detriment of their well-being.”
Reuters (10/24, Stempel, Bartz, Raymond) reports research has linked “children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms with ‘depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.’”
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