U.S. States Accuse Meta of Hiding Research on Teen Social Media Addiction in Landmark Lawsuit
Lawyers representing 29 U.S. states have initiated a landmark legal challenge against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, accusing it of deliberately designing addictive products that harm teenagers' mental health and of concealing internal research that demonstrated this harm. During the opening arguments in a federal court in Oakland, California, Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, presented internal documents allegedly showing Meta's awareness of its products' addictive nature for teens, with one document stating, 'Teens are hooked despite how it makes them feel. Instagram is addictive.' The lawsuit, originally filed in October 2023, claims Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without parental consent, violating federal and state laws. The states argue that Meta prioritized profits over the well-being of young users, refusing to alter harmful features. Meta, through its lawyer Paul Schmidt, denies these allegations, asserting that the presented documents... 
