Florida’s attorney general is suing Meta in federal court, alleging that its social media platforms, including Instagram, purposefully get children and teens hooked on their online features in a way that threatens children's mental health.
Ashley Moody took the legal action Oct. 24 in federal court in the Tampa region. The lawsuit against Meta, formerly Facebook, parallels other litigation taken by attorneys general in other states.
“Far from being a safe place, (the) defendants’ platforms cause serious harm to children, parents and the community at large by deploying algorithms and other features designed to hijack the attention of its users, barrage them with advertisements and relentlessly mine their interactions for monetizable data,” the lawsuit states. “These features designed to maximize user engagement are particularly harmful to young users.”
The operation of the company’s youth-oriented platforms violates the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, the complaint says. Moody is asking the court to enjoin Meta from engaging in “unfair conduct” and to allow her to recover civil penalties under both state and federal law.
A spokesperson for Meta expressed disappointment with the actions of Moody and other attorneys general, indicating that the company has programmed into its apps measures that encourage young users to take breaks.
“We share the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced more than 30 tools to support teens and their families,” the spokesperson said in an email to the Florida Record. “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 has engaged in communications with attorneys general about the steps Meta has taken to reduce children’s time online, according to the spokesperson. Features that encourage teens to take breaks from the apps include encouragements to turn on “Quiet Mode” if the app detects they’re using the app beyond a few minutes during nighttime hours, the company said.
In addition, Meta gives parents tools to limit times when children and teens can use the app.
The social media company has also pointed to what it says is the unfairness of the state lawsuits highlighting the impact of online platforms on young people. These lawsuits have been directed toward Meta and Instagram while overlooking other popular platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Snap, according to Meta. This shows that the attorneys general have not taken an industry-wide approach and instead are focusing their actions on a single company, the spokesperson said.
Meta has collected data from social media users who are under 13 without the permission of their parents and uses an “infinite scroll” feature to addict young people to the platforms, the lawsuit states.
The complaint also cites other lawsuits filed by Florida families alleging that Instagram and other platforms promote health problems such as anxiety, depression, suicide and eating disorders such as anorexia.
“Meta has gone unchecked for too long, and our children are suffering the consequences of these unlawful practices,” Moody said in a prepared statement.