More than 30 states filed a federal lawsuit against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, alleging the platforms’ apps are designed to be addictive and harm children’s mental health.

The lawsuit signed by 33 state attorneys general was filed Tuesday in a San Francisco federal court. The suit claims Meta violated both federal children’s online privacy law and state consumer protection laws by making its products addictive and then lying about how they harm children’s mental health.

Additionally, eight state attorneys general and the District of Columbia are filing separate lawsuits in their own state courts alleging Meta’s practices violate state consumer protection laws. In total, 42 states, including the District of Columbia, filed lawsuits in federal and state courts Tuesday.B

  • Objectionist
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    151 year ago

    ah yes, a surprise to no one at all!

    • @moistclump
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      121 year ago

      A surprise that somethings being done about it!

  • @guacupado
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    91 year ago

    What happened to the parents?

    • @SheeEttin
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      11 year ago

      If some parents denied their kids access to social media, the only effect would be to isolate them from their peers. That’s just how it works these days. Social media by itself is perfectly fine, the issue is how the companies running the networks are manipulative.

  • @WindyRebel
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    51 year ago

    Meta? Come on. The kids are on TikTok, Snapchat, BeReal, YouTube, etc and not instagram.

    That said, these tech giants need to knocked down some pegs. All of them!

  • meseek #2982
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    41 year ago

    It’s not “designed” to harm their mental health. What an insane conclusion.

    They just don’t care it hurts mental health. It’s designed to rack up engagement, because engagement = revenue. Welcome to capitalism. I mean you guys a built a system that profits of amorality. The more amoral or devoid of empathy, the better you are at capitalism. And then everyone is shocked when it turns out bad.

    So which is it? Do you want business to be ethical or do you want them to operate under the platitude “nothing personal bro, it’s just business”?

    Is this the level of mental gymnastics we live in? Christ almighty. No wonder big tech does whatever it wants. Every lawsuit that tries to dismantle or rein it in is built by Chunk’s twin brother.

      • @grayman
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        21 year ago

        To what ends? What economic system do you prefer?

          • @grayman
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            01 year ago

            Well lucky for you we don’t really have capitalism. We have the next worse thing… Crony capitalism.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          One arranged such that the people who work and produce, the people who WORK, directly control those instruments of production. A society oriented explicitly on common good, and the liberty and improvement of all.

          A world where WE own the value that we make. Where we all share in the benefits of new technologies, rather than be destroyed by them.

          Not one where any minority, be they state officials, military commanders, nor the capitalists or their bought politicians rules.

          And the end is the future. One that’s free of human self harm, economic exploitation, and environment destruction. Because those are things that we can achieve, we do have the technology, just as we could solve every crisis in the world. Try me, it’s easy. If you make just one concession.

          History didn’t end when Rome because an Empire instead of a Republic, it didn’t end when the city was sack, when the papacy was formed, or when Napoleon brought it to heel. It didn’t end with the liberal revolutions, or the civil rights movements, or the Arab spring.

          Freedom! That’s what. For one and all of us, except who are determined to stand in the way of liberty for working people.

          Ask the fighting people of old Ukraine, who called themselves Maknovists, what should happen in that case.

          • @grayman
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            01 year ago

            There’s a good bit of contradiction in that. You’re assuming everyone wants to work and just be a regular good person. Many steal. Many are lazy. Many are psychpaths. Many will fight and good just for the sake of it. We can’t legislate good, we can only punish some bad. What you wrote is a dream that cannot ever happen. Any sufficiently peaceful and good society attracts bad actors that wish to take advantage of the good and trusting people. It’s really quite unfortunate.

            Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. - JFK