New York attorney general Letitia James and a bipartisan coalition of 32 other state attorneys general are dragging Meta to court for fueling addiction and a mental health crisis among kids using its platforms.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram “has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” according to the lawsuit filed yesterday (Oct. 24) in the Northern District Court of California. “It has concealed the ways in which these Platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children. And it has ignored the sweeping damage these Platforms have caused to the mental and physical health of our nation’s youth.”
Several studies, including Meta’s own internal findings at times, have revealed a thread between “young people’s use of Meta’s platforms and psychological and physical harms, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes,” James said in a statement.
Youth mental health’s intertwined relationship with social media has taken centerstage this year. In his State of the Union address in February, US president Joe Biden addressed the negative mental-health effects of social media on young users. In May, the Surgeon General issued a health advisory on the same.
In addition to knowingly designing and deploying harmful features on Instagram, Facebook, and its other social media platforms with a focus on profiteering, Meta then spun its story to deny any detrimental effects, the suit alleges. At a March 2021 congressional hearing, CEO Mark Zuckerberg refused to give a yes or no answer when asked whether passive consumption of social media content—think Instagram’s infinite scroll—harmed children’s mental health.
A non-exhaustive list of features that help keep kids hooked to Instagram and Facebook
😁 Dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms
❤️ “Likes” and other social comparison features known by Meta to harm young users (although Instagram considered concealing the numbers, they remain visible by default)
🔔 Audiovisual and haptic alerts sent to young users, even during school and nighttime hours
🤳 Vsual filter features that range from clearing blemishes to changing entire face shapes—which is known to promote young users’ body dysmorphia
📱 Content presentation formats, such as infinite scroll, which are designed to discourage users’ attempts to self-regulate and disengage from the app
Kids and teens on Meta’s social media platforms, by the digits
22 million: Teens that log on to Instagram in the US daily
81%: Share of parents that reported their children began using social media between the ages of 8 and 13, according to a study cited by Meta in response to a congressional inquiry. Meta claims that it weeds out accountholders under the minimum age of 13.
45%: Share of children ages 9-12 that used Facebook daily, according to a data provided by an organization called Thorn. The same research found 40% used Instagram daily.
30%: Increase in high school girls that attempted suicide between 2011 and 2021—the decade over which Instagram’s popularity surged
42: Total number of attorneys general taking action against Meta. In addition to New York and the 32 other states, nine more attorneys general are filing lawsuits in their respective states.
Quotable: Mark Zuckerberg wants Congress to define youth’s use of tech
“We’re committed to doing the best work we can, but at some level the right body to assess tradeoffs between social equities is our democratically elected Congress. For example, what is the right age for teens to be able to use internet services? How should internet services verify people’s ages? And how should companies balance teens’ privacy while giving parents visibility into their activity?”
—Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an Oct. 6, 2021 Facebook post
One more thing: Meta’s COPPA violation
The complaint also alleges that Meta unlawfully collects and monetizes the personal data of its youngest users without their parents’ permission. That’s a violation of the1998 federal law known as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) penalized Meta for the same in May.