The state of Massachusetts has filed a new lawsuit against Meta, claiming that CEO Mark Zuckerberg rejected internal concerns about the impact of Instagram on young users’ mental health and personally vetoed proposals to address the issue, ABC News reports.

The suit alleges that as early as 2019, the Meta leadership team were asked to remove plastic surgery filters on Instagram and Facebook after experts sounded the alarm that those filters were detrimental to the mental health of young users. The filters promote unrealistic body image expectations, especially among girls.

An internal email showed that Instagram’s then-head of policy urged Zuckerberg to discontinue the filters, arguing, “We’re talking about actively encouraging young girls into body dysmorphia.”

Zuckerberg refused, stating that “there was a ‘clear demand’ for the filters, and claimed, falsely, that he had seen ‘no data’ suggesting that the filters were harmful,” according to the 100-page lawsuit.

Among other complaints in the suit, the plaintiffs allege Meta “consistently chose not to make additional investments to improve young users’ well being” between 2018 and 2022.

Meta responded by saying the company now offers “over 30 tools and resources” to help keep young people safe on its social media platforms. A Meta spokesperson argued that the complaint cherry-picks quotes that “do not provide the full context of how the company operates or what decisions were made.”

Massachusetts is far from the first to raise complaints about Meta. This May, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an urgent public advisory that excessive social media use can be a “profound risk” to young Americans’ mental health.

Dozens of states have already sued the social media giant, claiming that its products harm youth mental health. So have familiies and school districts. According to ABC News, “In October, a federal lawsuit and parallel state lawsuits alleged that Meta knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that purposefully addict children and teens.”

The Massachusetts lawsuit advances similar claims, alleging that “Meta has relentlessly prioritized targeting these young users and has tailored its platforms’ features to manipulate and exploit their developing brains in a way that ensures they return incessantly to its platforms and then stay on, for longer periods of time, over and over again.”

Roughly 350,000 Massachusetts teens aged 13 to 17 use Instagram daily, according to the court filing. If the lawsuit is successful, Meta could be forced to pay restitution to those users as well as civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.

Meta has also drawn the attention of lawmakers seeking to address social media harms among U.S. youth and may well face new regulatory changes if the Kids Online Safety Act passes.

Learn More

Read the full article at ABC News.

Or read the press release from the Office of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announcing the lawsuit.

Read Meta’s response to the lawsuit or Zuckerberg’s passionate statement in response to past criticism about the harm Meta’s platforms allegedly cause.

For further detail on internal discussions at Meta and Zuckerberg’s role in vetoing proposed changes, see CNN’s report.

Learn why U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says thirteen is too young for social media.

Read the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory: Social Media and Youth Mental Health for yourself.

Kindelan, Katie. “Lawsuit claims Mark Zuckerberg allegedly ignored warnings about Instagram’s impact on young users’ mental health.” ABC News.com, 9 Nov 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/lawsuit-claims-mark-zuckerberg-allegedly-warnings-instagrams-impact/story?id=104754567.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash