The investigation is led by a bipartisan coalition of
attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska,
New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont. It follows damning newspaper reports, first
by The Wall Street Journal, based on the company's own research that found that
the company knew about the harms Instagram can cause teenagers — especially
teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues.
Since those first reports, a consortium of news
organisations, including The Associated Press, have published their own
findings based on leaked documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who has
testified before Congress and a British parliamentary committee about what she
found.
“For too long, Meta has ignored the havoc that Instagram is
wreaking on the mental health and well-being of our children and teens,” said
California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Enough is enough. We've undertaken this
nationwide investigation to get answers about Meta's efforts to promote the use
of this social media platform to young Californians – and to determine if, in
doing so, Meta violated the law.”
The investigation targets, among other things, the
techniques Meta uses to keep young people on its platforms — and the harms that
extended time spent on Instagram can cause.
In a statement, Meta spokesperson Liza Crenshaw called the
accusations “false" and said they demonstrate "a deep
misunderstanding of the facts."
“While challenges in protecting young people online impact
the entire industry, we've led the industry in combating bullying and
supporting people struggling with suicidal thoughts, self-injury, and eating
disorders," Crenshaw said in the statement.
The state investigations follow a Monday announcement that
Ohio's largest public employee pension fund had sued Meta, alleging that it
broke federal securities law by purposely misleading the public about the
negative effects of its social platforms and the algorithms that run them.
The lawsuit by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System
claims that Facebook buried inconvenient findings about how the company has
managed those algorithms as well as the steps it said it was taking to protect
the public.
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