A coalition of 41 US states and the District of Columbia sued Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) on Tuesday and argued that its social networks Instagram and Facebook are addictive and harmful to children.
This legal action is the most significant effort by state authorities to curb the impact of social networks on the mental health of minors and to force Meta to change the features of its networks because of how dangerous it is, they claim, for younger users.
At least 33 states, including Colorado and California, filed a joint lawsuit in federal court in the Northern District of California, while other attorneys general in Washington D.C. and eight states are filing separate complaints in federal, state or local courts.