Must Read
A newly unsealed complaint accuses Meta of knowingly targeting children under 13 and being dishonest about how it handles their accounts and data. The now-redacted complaint is part of a lawsuit brought against Meta by 33 states in October.
While Facebook and Instagram have a minimum sign-up age of 13, the complaint argues that Meta is aware that children can easily lie about their age and hasn't taken enough action to combat the issue.
Despite receiving more than 1.1 million reports of under-13 users on Instagram between 2019 and 2023, Meta only disabled a small portion of these accounts, the complaint says.
It goes on to argue that the company has consistently collected children's data without parental consent, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA).
Zoom out:
Overall, 41 states and the District of Columbia are suing Meta in separate lawsuits, alleging that the company's addictive features on Instagram and Facebook harm children.
Meta is accused of designing its features to retain young users through tactics like algorithms, constant alerts and notifications, and infinite scrolling.
Meanwhile, Meta is supporting federal legislation to require parental approval for minors under 16 to download apps from stores like Google and Apple, shifting responsibility to safeguard young users away from the platforms themselves.