Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has joined a nationwide investigation into the company formerly known as Facebook for providing and promoting its social media platform Instagram to children and young adults despite knowing that such use is associated with physical and mental health harms.
Attorneys General across the country are examining whether Meta Platforms, Inc. violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk. “When social media platforms treat our children as mere commodities to manipulate for longer screen time engagement and data extraction, it becomes imperative for state attorneys general to engage our investigative authority under our consumer protection laws,” Peterson says.
The investigation targets the techniques utilized by Meta to increase the frequency and duration of engagement by young users and the resulting harms caused by such extended engagement.
Thursday’s announcement follows recent reports revealing that Meta’s own internal research shows that using Instagram is associated with increased risks of physical and mental health harms on young people, including depression, eating disorders, and suicide.
AG’s from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont have also joined the investigation.