States sue Meta, claim Instagram, Facebook harm kids’ mental health

Dozens of states filed suit Tuesday against Meta, the parent company of the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, claiming that the tech giant is harming the mental health of children by building features that it knows is addictive.

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The attorneys general of 33 states filed a federal lawsuit against Meta Platforms in California, while nine filed lawsuits in their respective state courts, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Bonta, who is among the leaders of the effort, announced a nationwide investigation into Meta and its impact on young people in November 2021.

“Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” Bonta said Tuesday. “With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight.”

In a statement obtained by WFXT, a spokesperson for Meta said the company was “disappointed” that attorneys general chose to sue “instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use.”

“We share the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families,” the spokesperson said.

In the 233-page federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, states said Meta “created a business model focused on maximizing young users’ time and attention spent on its Social Media Platforms” and designed “harmful and psychologically manipulative product features” aimed at enticing users under the age of 18 to stay engaged longer.

“Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its Social Media Platforms,” according to the lawsuit. “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.”

The lawsuit comes two years after The Wall Street Journal first reported that Meta’s internal research found that company knew that Instagram could pose harm to teen users and especially teen girls grappling with mental health and body image issues.

In California, Bonta was joined in the federal lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The attorneys general of Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits in their own state courts.

“Given that children, when they’re on these platforms, become vulnerable to cyberbullying and online predators, Meta has added insult to injury, further injuring our children. I trust that the parents within Meta itself might reconsider these practices, but, until then, initiating lawsuits should compel the company to change its ways,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.

Ohio's lawsuit claims Meta "designed and deployed harmful features for Facebook and Instagram to addict young users to its platforms and enhance its bottom line," a spokesperson from the Attorney General's office said.

Ohio's lawsuit seeks injunctions as well as financial compensation to the state.

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