(TheIndependentStar.com) – The scales of justice may finally balance for the various abuses committed by Meta through its Facebook and Instagram platforms as the bulk of the 50 states have filed a landmark lawsuit against the pro-left Big Tech giant over its targeting of America’s most innocent with “harmful” actions.
On Tuesday, a group of 33 states initiated legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, alleging that the tech giant knowingly endangered children by allowing them to access and be influenced by harmful social media features and practices, The Washington Times reports.
The lawsuit asserts that Meta utilized its Facebook and Instagram platforms to captivate children’s attention and misrepresented the safety of these technologies, constituting a violation of both state and federal laws.
“Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its Social Media Platforms,” the criminal complaint states.
“It has concealed the ways in which these Platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children. And it has ignored the sweeping damage these Platforms have caused to the mental and physical health of our nation’s youth,” it elaborated, as cited by The Daily Caller.
The suit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Meta’s actions breach the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
It argues that Meta is aware of underage users on Instagram and Facebook who access them without requisite parental consent.
“We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone reacted to the lawsuit.
The bipartisan coalition leading the lawsuit encompasses the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington state, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, eight other states and DC also filed separate but related lawsuits against Meta.
“Meta designed Instagram with features that lure in and addict kids, putting profits over their well-being. This lawsuit seeks to end Meta’s exploitation of young people and remedy the damage it’s done to an entire generation,” Washington DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat, wrote on Facebook.
