More than 40 North American states have filed a lawsuit against the technology giant Meta, in which they accuse the social networks Facebook and Instagram of harming “the physical and mental health of young people.”
“Meta exploited powerful and unprecedented technologies to attract and ultimately arrest young people and adolescents for the purpose of profit,” state attorneys general say in the complaint filed Tuesday in a California court and to which AFP access.
The states, governed by both Democrats and Republicans, add that the Californian group “hidden the way in which these platforms exploit and manipulate their most vulnerable consumers” and accuse it of “neglecting the considerable damage that these platforms have caused to the health mental and physical of the citizens of the country”. young people”.
Contacted by AFP, Meta declared herself “disappointed” by the path chosen by prosecutors and regretted that they had not “preferred to work directly with companies in the sector to create clear standards adapted to the age of the countless applications used by adolescents.” . .
“We share the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe and positive online experiences, and have already introduced more than 30 tools to support teens and their families,” a spokesperson for the group said.
The judicial action is the culmination of investigations launched in 2021 into the methods of the two platforms, considered “addictive” by the authorities.
Attorneys general decided to take matters into their own hands this year, after a former Facebook employee warned about the platform’s practices.
Computer engineer Frances Haugen shared more than 20,000 pages of internal documents and denounced, before several parliaments, that the social network puts profits before user safety.
According to the complaint filed Tuesday, Facebook and Instagram features were designed to “manipulate young users into compulsive and prolonged use of the platforms.”
Prosecutors accuse Meta of lying to the public by claiming that its products were safe and suitable for teenagers, and of “publishing misleading advertisements” in this regard. The lawsuit also accuses Meta of violating the Children’s Privacy Act.
Therefore, the states ask the courts to force Meta to end these practices, also demanding the payment of fines.
“With today’s legal action, we have drawn a line that should not be crossed,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight,” he said.
Source: TSF
