From Likes to Lawsuits: Meta’s Legal Case on Youth Wellbeing

Last month, a group of 42 bipartisan attorney generals across the United States sued Meta platforms for its effect on teens and their overall well-being and mental health. The lawsuit alleges that Instagram and Facebook are using features to hook young people into using its platforms, even though Meta stated that these platforms were safe for minors. 33 states across the US filed a federal suit in the Northern District of California, alleging that Meta is violating consumer protection laws by unfairly addicting young people to the platform. The attorney generals are asking for financial relief and for Meta to cease its use of allegedly harmful algorithms. These algorithms allegedly provide young people with toxic and harmful content that gets them hooked, with features like “infinite scrolls” and alerts that keep them using the platform. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campell wrote, “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. 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 investigation started in 2021 when Meta, then Facebook, announced it was going to be launching Instagram Kids: a platform specifically designed for children under the age of 13. Attorney generals from across the US wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking them to abandon these plans. Soon after this, Frances Haugen, a whistleblower from Facebook, alleged that the company was well aware of its mental health effects on young people. Finally, a group of states announced a joint investigation to investigate Facebook and its impacts on young people. This investigation is one of many globally, where lawmakers in countries like Britain have created regulations for social media platforms for young people.

The claims of the lawsuit are as follows: Meta attempted to maximize profit by preying on young users, falsely stated that its platforms are safe for young users, lied to the public by stating that users will not encounter harmful content, and knowingly harmed young users’ physical and mental health. In response to this lawsuit, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated, “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.”

As college students, the Meta case is extremely pertinent to the way we live our lives and navigate the world. We are especially susceptible to the social media addictions that the Attorney Generals’ allege. Many people in our age demographic have experienced unhealthy relationships with social media, contributing to mental health issues. Certain trends romanticize various toxic and unhealthy behaviors, leading vulnerable users down a rabbit hole. For people already harmed by social media, justice will be hard to provide, but future generations can still be better protected. This case suggests that states are placing a priority on children and their right to navigate social media without being harmed. While this may not have been something that we were afforded when we were younger, it is imperative to begin to take steps for the next generation to be able to use social media safely. This case is an unprecedented attempt to regulate a tech giant. While Attorney Generals did this in cases with Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, and the case against Google for privacy concerns, this is the first of its kind that is so large and specifically targets this issue.