A bipartisan coalition of 33 state attorneys general sued Meta for allegedly designing and deploying harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that addicted a generation of young people.
The federal lawsuit is a culmination of an investigation into Meta’s social media platforms that started nearly two years ago. The 233-page suit accuses Meta of a grand scheme to exploit younger users for profit and says the social media giant deceived the public about the dangers its applications posed to young people.
“Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” said California Attorney General Bonta in a statement Tuesday. “With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight.”
A pillar of the attorneys general lawsuit against Meta is that the company is noncompliant with The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). COPPA prevents media companies from collecting data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
“Despite Meta’s efforts to avoid its responsibilities under COPPA by attempting to maintain willful ignorance of its users under the age of 13, Meta routinely obtains actual knowledge of under-13 users on Instagram,” says the lawsuit.
The attorneys general’s coalition alleges Mark Zuckerberg and Meta deceived the public on this COPPA compliance. Research in the case shows 40% of children between the ages of 9-12 use Instagram daily.
Meta did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
The attorneys general say Meta allegedly knew from internal research that its products cause young users significant physical and mental harm, but the company downplayed and deceived the public in this respect.
Arizona, California, and Colorado are some of the 33 states in the federal lawsuit, and they are joined by nine other states who are filing their own state lawsuits, including Florida, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.