Meta sued over features that attract children to Instagram and Facebook
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Meta was sued Tuesday by more than three dozen states for knowingly using features of Instagram and Facebook to hook children to its platforms, even as the The company said its social media sites were safe. for youth.
Colorado and California led a joint lawsuit filed by 33 states in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that Meta , owner of Facebook and Instagram, , WhatsApp and Messenger – violated consumer protection laws by unfairly trapping children and misleading users about the safety of its platforms. The District of Columbia and eight other states filed separate lawsuits against Meta on Tuesday with mostly the same allegations.
In their complaint, the states said Meta had “designed psychologically manipulative measures”. product features to encourage young users to compulsively and prolonged use of platforms like Instagram. The company's algorithms were designed to push children and teens down rabbit holes of toxic and harmful content, States said, with features like "infinite scrolling" and persistent alerts used to hook young users . Attorneys general also accused Meta of violating a federal children's online privacy law, accusing it of illegally collecting "the personal data of its youngest users" without their parents' permission.
“Meta leveraged powerful and unprecedented technologies to attract, engage, and ultimately entrap youth and adolescents,” the States said in their 233-page lawsuit. “Its motivation is profit.”
Meta said it was working to provide a safer environment for teens on its apps and introduced more than 30 tools to support adolescents and families.
"We are disappointed that instead of working productively with industry companies to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many applications used by teenagers, the attorneys general have chosen this path," the company said in a statement.
The coordinated lawsuit shows that states are prioritizing the issue of children and online safety and combining their legal resources to combat Meta.Credit. ..Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters 
Meta was sued Tuesday by more than three dozen states for knowingly using features of Instagram and Facebook to hook children to its platforms, even as the The company said its social media sites were safe. for youth.
Colorado and California led a joint lawsuit filed by 33 states in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that Meta , owner of Facebook and Instagram, , WhatsApp and Messenger – violated consumer protection laws by unfairly trapping children and misleading users about the safety of its platforms. The District of Columbia and eight other states filed separate lawsuits against Meta on Tuesday with mostly the same allegations.
In their complaint, the states said Meta had “designed psychologically manipulative measures”. product features to encourage young users to compulsively and prolonged use of platforms like Instagram. The company's algorithms were designed to push children and teens down rabbit holes of toxic and harmful content, States said, with features like "infinite scrolling" and persistent alerts used to hook young users . Attorneys general also accused Meta of violating a federal children's online privacy law, accusing it of illegally collecting "the personal data of its youngest users" without their parents' permission.
“Meta leveraged powerful and unprecedented technologies to attract, engage, and ultimately entrap youth and adolescents,” the States said in their 233-page lawsuit. “Its motivation is profit.”
Meta said it was working to provide a safer environment for teens on its apps and introduced more than 30 tools to support adolescents and families.
"We are disappointed that instead of working productively with industry companies to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many applications used by teenagers, the attorneys general have chosen this path," the company said in a statement.
The coordinated lawsuit shows that states are prioritizing the issue of children and online safety and combining their legal resources to combat Meta.Credit. ..Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters What's Your Reaction?
