Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is facing a barrage of lawsuits from 41 US states, in addition to the District of Columbia. The legal action is based on the argument that the company’s social networks are addictive and harmful to children.

An important precedent that could have triggered the lawsuits is an “investigation launched in 2021 into the different ways in which the technological titan contributes to mental health problems among young people.”

In any case, it is a mechanism by the US authorities to put a stop to the effect of social networks on the health of children and young people.

They would be looking for a way to “force Meta to change the characteristics of its networks because of how dangerous it is, as they claim, for younger users.”

Colorado and California are part of the group of states that have filed a joint lawsuit against Meta in federal court in the Northern District of California. Likewise, other attorneys general in Washington D.C. and eight states have filed separate complaints in federal, state or local courts.

Since a report was published in The Wall Street Journal in 2021 with internal information on how the social network “Instagram worsened the perception of users – especially girls and adolescents – about their bodies”, states such as Arkansas and Utah have approved laws that prohibit access of minors under 13 years of age to social networks. Additionally, they “require that adolescents under 18 years of age obtain parental consent to access the sites.”

M.Pino

Source: finanzasdigital

(Reference image source: Dima Solomin, Unsplash)

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La entrada Meta sued for alleged harmful and addictive networks for children apareció primero en Bitfinance.