WASHINGTON—Citing claims of social media addiction and targeting minors with misleading marketing, 42 attorneys general of various political backgrounds have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Thirty-three of the attorneys general led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta—a Democrat—on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
"Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” Bonta said in a statement published by his office.
“With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight. I am grateful for the collaboration of my fellow state attorneys general in standing up for our children and holding Meta accountable.”
The states suing Meta are: 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, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Nine additional attorneys general are filing in their own states.
Ashley Moody, the attorney general of Florida, for example, filed a singular lawsuit making similar claims at the Tampa Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
"Meta has gone unchecked for too long, and our children are suffering the consequences of these unlawful practices," said Moody, who is a Republican. "Today, I took action to stop Meta from targeting minors with addictive features to keep them online for hours, collecting their data and other unlawful actions that harm teens’ mental health.”
In addition, The District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont have filed related actions in local courts.
This is applicable to adult entertainment companies because the litigation could result in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act being further scrutinized.
Multi-district litigation like this also emboldens state and federal lawmakers to propose measures, such as the controversial Kids Online Safety Act, to regulate the digital space further using potentially unconstitutional applications of the law.
