42 States Suing Meta, Alleging Youth Mental Health Concerns

SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of states sued Instagram and Facebook parent Meta on Tuesday, accusing them of harming young people's mental health with addictive platforms.

A group of 33 states filed a federal lawsuit in California against the tech giant, alleging the company deliberately created and deployed harmful features on Instagram, Facebook, and its other social media platforms that purposefully addicted children and teens, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a news release.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, also said Meta collects data on children under 13 without telling parents or getting their consent — a violation of federal law.

“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. 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 complaint. “It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.”

Meta told California Patch in a statement it shares “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 added.

Nine other state attorneys general also plan to file lawsuits in their respective states, bringing the total number of states suing Meta to 42.

"Kids and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health and social media companies like Meta are to blame," James said in a statement. "Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem."

Meta exploited young people for profits, James said, by designing its business models to maximize young peoples' time and attention, and include harmful, manipulative features that prey on their vulnerabilities.

These features, she said, include:

• Algorithms that suggest content to keep users on their platform longer and encourage compulsive use
• “Likes” and social comparison features known to harm young people
• A regular stream of alerts meant to bring young people back to Meta’s platforms, even when they're at school and throughout the night
• Visual filters that promote body dysmorphia
• Content-presentation formats, such as “infinite scroll,” designed to prevent young people from leaving their platforms.

Additionally, the states alleged that Meta released misleading public reports that show low rates of negative and harmful experiences by its users.

In 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta's own research showed the tech giant knew the harmful effects Instagram had on young people, particularly teen girls. An internal study reportedly found that 13.5 percent of teen girls said Instagram worsened suicidal thoughts. Seventeen percent of teen girls said the platform worsened eating disorders.

Joining James in filing the federal lawsuit against Meta are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Patch's Toni McAllister contributed reporting.