Dozens of US states sue Meta over harm to children
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00:00 Profiting from children's pain and misleading people about the safety of its platforms.
00:05 Those are the accusations leveled at Meta in a new federal complaint.
00:09 The tech giant is being sued by dozens of US states for harming children's mental health.
00:16 In seeking to bolster profits, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of
00:24 its products. It has concealed the ways in which Instagram and Facebook exploit and manipulate
00:30 its most vulnerable consumers, teenagers and children.
00:35 In filing the suit, the state attorney general cited Meta's internal research
00:41 that showed 13.5 percent of teen girls who use Instagram said it made thoughts of suicide and
00:48 self-harm worse. 17 percent said the platform made eating issues worse and 32 percent said it made
00:56 body images worse. In response, Meta says it's developed tools to support young users.
01:03 We're disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry
01:09 to create clear age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general
01:15 have chosen this path. To comply with federal regulations, social media companies have banned
01:21 children under 13 from signing up for their platforms. In many instances though, it's been
01:28 proven easy to circumvent such bans and many younger kids use these apps. Children are an
01:34 appealing demographic for businesses which hope to build customer loyalty early on. The lawsuit
01:41 is seeking hefty financial damages and an end to Meta's manipulative tactics that harm kids.