Dozens of American states have filed lawsuits against the company “Meta” and its “Instagram” unit, accusing it of causing a crisis for children and young people by affecting their mental and psychological health, by pushing them to become addicted to social media platforms.
In a complaint filed Tuesday, prosecutors in 33 states, including California and New York, said Meta, which also runs Facebook, repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms and intentionally pushed young children and teens into compulsive, addictive social media use. Social Media.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented techniques to lure, engage, and ultimately trap youth and adolescents,” the complaint filed in federal court in Oakland, California, said. “Its motive is profit.”
Depression and insomnia
Children have long been an attractive demographic for companies hoping to attract them as consumers at ages when they may be most impressionable.
For Meta, younger consumers are vital to attracting more advertisers who hope children will continue to buy their products as they grow older.
But the states that filed lawsuits said that research showed a link between children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms and their feelings of “depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.”
“Disappointment”
Meta expressed its “disappointment” with the lawsuit, and said: “Instead of working productively with companies across the sector to create clear, age-appropriate standards for many of the apps used by teens, prosecutors chose this path.”
Eight other US states and Washington, D.C., filed similar lawsuits against Meta on Tuesday, bringing the total number of parties that have taken action against the company, which is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, to 42.
Meta shares fell 0.6% on the Nasdaq index.
Reuters
2023-10-26 10:58:00
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