(CN) — A new, mostly unredacted version of a federal complaint against Meta revealed some startling details about how the social media giant, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, has managed issues relating to underage users of its platforms.
Since early 2019, Meta has received more than 1.1 million reports of Instagram users under the age of 13, via an in-app reporting button.
"Despite this actual knowledge, Meta disabled only a fraction of those accounts and routinely continued to collect children’s data without parental consent," wrote the attorneys general of 33 states in the newly unsealed complaint.
The state attorneys continued: "Within the company, Meta’s actual knowledge that millions of Instagram users are under the age of 13 is an open secret that is routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed, and zealously protected from disclosure to the public."
According to a 2018 internal report, there were 4 million United States users under the age of 13 on Instagram in 2015 — roughly 30% of all 10- to 12-year-olds in the U.S.
The claim is supported by an internal chat message by Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, which read, “Tweens want access to Instagram, and they lie about their age to get it now. We’d like it if they aged up from an age appropriate version to the full [version]of Instagram, so the explicit strategy, which is on pause, is to let them download the main app and cater the experience to their age.”
In the Friday filing, the attorneys general accuse Meta of violating state and federal laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. It accuses Meta of developing features to make its platforms more addictive to young users, inducing them to use social media compulsively.
"Meta knows that what it is doing is bad for kids," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a written statement on Monday. "Thanks to our unredacted federal complaint, it is now there in black and white, and it is damning.”
The 233-pager is replete with anecdotes supporting the claim that Meta "prioritizes engagement and profits to the detriment of young users’ well-being."
For instance, the Instagram app includes a multitude of "filters" that allow users to alter their appearance — giving them dog ears or unicorn horns — or in one case, simulating the look of having facial plastic surgery. Some of Meta's leadership, according to the complaint, came to believe that filter may have been “actively encouraging young girls into body dysmorphia." But Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the concerns as “paternalistic" and vetoed a proposed ban on the plastic surgery filter, saying there was a "clear demand" for the feature.
In a written statement, a Meta spokesperson said, "The complaint mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents.” It added: “We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents. We’ve spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online."
Accusations that Facebook and Instagram have been harmful to the mental health of teenagers — particularly teen girls — have dogged the company for years.
In September 2021 the Wall Street Journal obtained an internal report from Meta that included the finding, "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.” Many teens had told Meta's researchers that they felt "addicted" to Instagram; that they wanted to check it less but weren't able to.
The WSJ article quoted Senator Richard Blumenthal saying, "Facebook seems to be taking a page from the textbook of Big Tobacco — targeting teens with potentially dangerous products while masking the science in public.”
Shortly thereafter, Bonta announced a nationwide investigation into Instagram's impact on young people. The lawsuit, first filed with heavier redactions on Oct. 24, resulted in part from that investigation.
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