US states sue Meta, Instagram for links to depression, anxiety, insomnia in kids

Dozens of US states are suing Meta Platforms and its Instagram unit, accusing them of fuelling a youth mental health crisis by making their social media platforms addictive.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday, the attorneys-general of 33 states including California and New York said Meta, which also operates Facebook, repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms, and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use.

“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” according to the complaint filed in the Oakland, California federal court.

“Its motive is profit.”

Children have long been an appealing demographic for businesses, which hope to attract them as consumers at ages when they may be more impressionable, and solidify brand loyalty.

For Meta, younger consumers may help secure more advertisers who hope children will keep buying their products as they grow up.

However, the states said research has associated children's use of Meta's social media platforms with “depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life and many other negative outcomes.”

Meta said it was “disappointed” in the lawsuit.

“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.

Eight other US states and Washington, DC are filing similar lawsuits against Meta on Tuesday, bringing the total number of authorities taking action against the Menlo Park, California-based company to 42.

Meta shares fell 0.6% on the Nasdaq.

The cases are the latest legal actions against social media companies on behalf of children and teens.

Meta, ByteDance's TikTok and Google's YouTube already face hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children and school districts about the addictiveness of social media.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, has in the past defended his company's handling of content which some critics find harmful.

“At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritise profit over safety and wellbeing. That's just not true,” he posted in October 2021 on his Facebook page.

In Tuesday's cases, Meta could face civil penalties of $1,000 (R19,000) to $50,000 (R95,000) for each violation of state laws, an amount that could add up quickly given the millions of young children and teenagers who use Instagram.

Much of the focus on Meta stemmed from a whistle-blower's release of documents in 2021 that showed the company knew Instagram, which began as a photo-sharing app, was addictive and worsened body image issues for some teen girls.

The lawsuit by the 33 states alleged Meta has strived to ensure young people spend as much time as possible on social media despite knowing they are susceptible to the need for approval in the form of “likes” from other users about their content.

“Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” said California attorney-general Rob Bonta, whose state includes Meta's headquarters.

States also accused Meta of violating a law banning the collection of data of children under age 13, and deceptively denying its social media was harmful.

“Meta did not disclose its algorithms were designed to capitalise on young users' dopamine responses and create an addictive cycle of engagement,” the complaint said.

Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter that plays a role in feelings of pleasure.

According to the complaint, Meta's refusal to accept responsibility extended last year to its distancing itself from a 14-year-old girl's suicide in the UK after she was exposed on Instagram to content about suicide and self-injury.

A coroner rejected a Meta executive's claim that such content was “safe” for children, finding the girl likely binged on harmful content that normalised the depression she had felt before killing herself.

States also alleged Meta is seeking to expand its harmful practices into virtual reality, including its Horizon Worlds platform and the WhatsApp and Messenger apps.

By suing, authorities are seeking to patch holes left by the US Congress' inability to pass new online protections for children despite years of discussions.

Colorado attorney-general Philip Weiser said the whistle-blower's revelations showed Meta knew how Facebook and Instagram were harming children.

He said: “It is very clear decisions made by social media platforms, like Meta, are part of what is driving mental health harms, physical health harms, and threats we can't ignore.” 

Reuters