Storm of lawsuits against Meta. A coalition of 41 US states and the District of Columbia sued the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp arguing that their social networks Instagram and Facebook are addictive and harmful to children.
This legal action is the most significant effort by state authorities to stop the impact of social networks on the mental health of minors and to force Meta to change the characteristics of its networks due to how dangerous it is, according to what they claim, for children. younger users.
All these demands aim to stop the impact of social networks on the mental health of minors
A total of 33 states, among others Colorado and Californiafiled a joint lawsuit in federal court in the Northern District of California, while other attorneys general from Washington DC and eight states are filing separate complaints in federal, state or local courts.
The rain of demands has its seeds in a 2021 investigation about the different ways in which the technological conglomerate led by Mark Zuckeberg contributes to increasing mental health problems among young people.
The links between social networks and mental health
In 2021, The Wall Street Journal In a report prepared with internal information, he exposed how Instagram worsened the perception of users – especially girls and adolescents – about their bodies, and pointed out that the company was aware of this problem.
Arkansas and Utah have passed laws prohibiting children under 13 from accessing social media.
Since then, some states such as Arkansas and Utah have passed laws prohibiting children under 13 from accessing social media and requiring teens under 18 to obtain parental consent to access the sites. California passed laws requiring tech companies to examine their platforms for potential risks and problems.
Meta has also received a slap on the wrist in recent days from the European Commission, which has asked him for explanations about how he plans to prevent “manipulated” and “ultrafalse” content about the Hamas attack on Hamas from being spread on his social networks. Israel and about the upcoming elections in community territory.
