You might not remember this happening, or this could even be your first time hearing of it, but two years, ago a woman named Frances Haugen exposed her former employer, Meta. Haugen, who previously worked as a Facebook product manager, left the company in May 2021. She claims Facebook cared about its own interests over the interests of the public.
“Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety," she said in an interview. And now, a couple years later, 41 states have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming that Facebook and Instagram are knowingly harmful to young people's mental health and social media is made to be addictive.
The “motive is profit” for Meta, the lawsuit claims. "Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens," it also stated.
In May, a landmark advisory was issued by US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in regards to the impact of social media. “In early adolescence, when identities and sense of self-worth are forming, brain development is especially susceptible to social pressures, peer opinions and peer comparison,” the advisory stated. “Our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment.”
More from LittleThings: This Video Perfectly Describes Everything Wrong With Our Generation On Social Media.
Facebook and Instagram’s terms of service state that people must be at least 13 years old before creating an account. But according to the lawsuit, Meta has collected personal data from children under 13 without parental consent, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. A lawsuit filed in March also claimed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was personally warned about the negative effects social media has on children.
