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33 U.S. states are suing social media giant Meta over claims that its platforms are harming children’s mental health.
The lawsuit claims that Meta Platforms Inc. collects the data of children under 13 and without parents’ consent. “Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its social media platforms,” the suit says. “It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.” “Kids and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health and social media companies like Meta are to blame,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem.”
