41 states sue Meta for allegedly addicting kids to Facebook and Instagram | Ars Technica

By design — Meta repeatedly chose not to design platforms safe for kids, states allege. Ashley Belanger – Oct 24, 2023 8:12 pm UTC State attorneys general in 41 states and the District of Columbia sued Meta today. The move comes after the conclusion of a multistate probe launched in 2021, where a bipartisan coalition of state enforcers began examining how Facebook and Instagram features are designed to allegedly addict and harm kids. Back in 2021, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office led the multistate probe investigating “Instagram’s impacts on young people” after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that Facebook knew Instagram was “toxic” to teen girls but downplayed risks to the public. In a press release today, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell accused Meta of “deliberately” exploiting “young users’ vulnerabilities for profit.” Eight states and Washington, DC, filed lawsuits against Meta in state and local courts, while 33 states filed a joint lawsuit in a federal court in California, The Washington Post reported. According to the Post, these lawsuits together mark the “most significant effort” yet by states to force social media platforms to carefully weigh potential harms to children when designing product features. Ahead of states’ announcement, a
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