Meta Sued By 42 US States For Contribution To The Mental Health Crisis Of Young People

Instagram, accused of being addictive and exacerminating body image problems for some teenage girls. (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - Dozens of states in the United States are suing Meta Platforms Inc., and its Instagram unit. They accuse Meta of contributing to the mental health crisis of young people through the addictive nature of the social media platform.

In a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court, California on Tuesday, October 24, 33 states including California and Illinois said Meta, which also operates Facebook, has repeatedly misled the public about the great dangers of its platforms. They are accused of deliberately inviting children and adolescents to use social media addictively and compulsively.

"Meta has taken advantage of powerful and unprecedented technology to captivate, engage, and ultimately hold young and adolescents," the lawsuit said. "The motive is profit."

The lawsuit is seeking various recovery efforts, including substantial civil fines.Meta said they had been trying to keep teens safe online.

"We are disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear and age-appropriate standards for many applications used by teenagers, the attorneys general chose this path," Meta said in an emailed statement.

Most of the focus on Meta comes from document releases in 2021 showing that Meta has data showing that Instagram, which initially started as a photo-sharing app, is addictive and exacerbates body image problems for some teenage girls.

The lawsuit claims that Meta is trying to ensure that young people spend as much time on social media even though it knows that the youth's brain is vulnerable to approval needs in the form of "like" from other users against its content. The lawsuit says Meta misleadingly denies publicly that its social media is dangerous.

Nine other states are expected to file a similar lawsuit on Tuesday, bringing the total state suing to 42.

The company Menlo Park, California, and other social media companies have faced hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children and school districts with similar claims.