On October 24, 2023, after being unable to reach a settlement, 33 states including Colorado filed a lawsuit against Meta, the company that owns the Largest social media site in the world Facebook as well as the fourth, Instagram and the third, WhatsApp. What are they being sued for? Psychological manipulation, specifically against users teen and under
The lawsuit claims that Meta’s business practices are designed intentionally to create an addict in young users, violating consumer protection laws. According to the states involved in the lawsuit, features like “Infinite scroll” and the site’s algorithms are designed to hook teens and children, as well as showing them potentially harmful content. The Colorado attorney general has likened Metas business practices to Big Tobacco: maximising profits over teens’ health. Concerns over youth safety grew in 2021, following a former facebook employee’s claims that meta knew their apps posed potential mental health risks. The lawsuit also claims that meta has been collecting young users’ data without permission, an all too familiar accusation coming after last year’s data privacy settlement resulting in them having to pay $725M to people who used facebook between 2007 and 2022 for reportedly sharing user data without consent.
If successful, meta will face financial penalties, and due to an injunction, possibly have to remove features that the states see as harmful.
In recent years, attempts by state and federal government to restrict social media have increased. Utah passed a law that as of March 1st 2024, requires social media apps to silence notifications overnight to help teens sleep. Following the congressional hearing over Tiktok’s data privacy, Montana banned the app by prohibiting services in Montana and penalising app store operators for offering the app beginning January 1 2024. Tiktok was also banned on city devices in Aurora, and with Colorado being involved in another move against big tech companies, it is not unreasonable to think more bans could be coming.
