Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced last week that she is leading a nationwide investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for conduct relating to the use of its social media platform Instagram by children and young adults.
Attorneys general across the country are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk by carelessly promoting the platform to younger users.
“We have serious concerns about how social media is impacting the lives of young people in this country, and as a mother, I want to know how Facebook/Meta is targeting youth and what strategies this Big Tech giant is using to entice children and teens to lengthen engagement on its platforms. I am proud to lead these efforts with our partner states to find out if Meta violated any consumer protection laws and put our children at risk,” Moody said.
The investigation targets, among other things, the techniques used by Meta to increase the frequency and duration of engagement by young users and the resulting harms caused by such extended engagement. Today’s announcement follows recent reports revealing that Meta’s own internal research shows that using Instagram is associated with increased risks of physical and mental health damages on young people. These harms include depression, eating disorders and suicide.
Moody continues to challenge Meta’s overreaching goals by leading the action to end Facebook’s monopoly, supporting the cancellation of youth social media platform plans and taking action against Facebook to fight human trafficking.
Moody is leading the investigation with a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont.
