Push Admin

Fil-Am California AG Rob Bonta co-leads multistate lawsuit vs. Meta

Article (news)

Steve Angeles | TFC News Los Angeles

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l9t6SAms2Oc?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>Dozens of U.S. state attorneys general including Filipino-American Rob Bonta of California are taking on one of the biggest social media players, Meta, to court.A bipartisan coalition of 33 state attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against the company that owns Facebook and Instagram.Nine other attorneys general and Washington D.C. are filing lawsuits in their respective states.The lawsuit claims that Meta knowingly designed and deployed harmful and addictive features on Instagram and Facebook aimed towards children.The attorneys general said Meta had violated the Federal Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act.&quot;There&#x27;s a mountain of growing evidence that social media has a negative impact on our children,&quot; said Bonta, &quot;evidence that more time on social media is correlated with depression, with anxiety, body image issues susceptibility to addiction and interference with daily life.&quot;The lawsuits come after a two year-multi state investigation into the practices of social media companies and its impact on children. Bonta said they are also investigating TikTok.Colorado&#x27;s attorney general, Phil Weiser, also shared that the probe came after a whistleblower released documents to support the claims.&quot;Young people were being brought down rabbit holes, or dark holes[and] they suffered,&quot; said Weiser. &quot;They continued to suffer.&quot;The lawsuit looks to change Meta’s practices, especially when it comes to children.&quot;We’re first and foremost focused on behavior change, injunctive relief, change of practices, where there is knowledge of addiction,&quot; said Bonta. He added: &quot;The primary goal here is to protect the safety of our children.&quot;In a statement, Meta said that it shares the attorneys general’s commitment to keeping young people safe.The Zuckerburg-led company said it has also introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families.It expressed disappointment, though, that instead of working productively with the industry, the attorneys general have chosen the legal path.

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against the company that owns Facebook and Instagram.