MA Joins Lawsuit Against Meta: Facebook, Instagram 'Prey' On Children

MASSACHUSETTS — A lawsuit has been filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 41 other states against Meta Platforms Inc., which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, claiming that the social media platforms’ harmful business practices are targeting children.

In a release announcing the lawsuit, Campbell said she was joining the lawsuit to stop Meta through Facebook and Instagram from targeting minors with "unfair and deceptive" practices.

“Meta preys on our young people and has chosen to profit by knowingly targeting and exploiting their vulnerabilities. In doing so, Meta has significantly contributed to the ongoing mental health crisis among our children and teenagers," Campbell said in a news release. "Because Meta has shown that it will not act responsibly unless it is required to do so by courts of law, my colleagues and I are taking action today — and will continue to push for meaningful changes to Meta’s platforms that protect our young people.”

The 233-page lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in California on behalf of the states, claims Meta "knowingly designed" harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that make children and teens addicted to the platform.

"The complaint alleges that Meta secretly utilizes design features that deliberately exploit and capitalize off young users’ unique vulnerabilities and overcome young people’s ability to self-regulate their time spent on its platform. Such features include the 'infinite scroll,' near-constant notifications and alerts, autoplay Stories and Reels, features designed to create a sense of 'FOMO' (fear of missing out), and 'intermittent variable rewards' mechanisms similar to those used by slot machines," Campbell's office said.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without informing parents or obtaining parental consent, which is a violation of federal law. It also states that Meta released misleading public reports that show low rates of negative and harmful experiences by its users.

Meta said that it has tried to protect young people using its platforms.

"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. We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path," the company said in a statement to Patch.