<\/p>\n
BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Massachusetts’ highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state’s lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,\u201d said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state’s claim has nothing to do the company’s algorithms or failure to moderate content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is \u201cconfident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.\u201d Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit \u201cwould impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions\u201d and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Commonwealth would have a better chance of getting around the First Amendment if they alleged that the speech was false or fraudulent,\u201d Mosier said. \u201cBut when they acknowledge that its truthful that brings it in the heart of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meta is facing federal and state lawsuits<\/a> claiming it knowingly designed features \u2014 such as constant notifications and the ability to scroll endlessly \u2014 that addict children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 2023, 33 states filed a joint lawsuit against the Menlo Park, California-based tech giant claiming that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents\u2019 consent, in violation of federal law. In addition, states including Massachusetts filed their own lawsuits in state courts over addictive features and other harms to children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Critics say Meta hasn’t done enough to address concerns about teen safety and mental health on its platforms. A report<\/a> from former employee and whistleblower Arturo Bejar<\/a> and four nonprofit groups this year said Meta has chosen not to take \u201creal steps\u201d to address safety concerns, \u201copting instead for splashy headlines about new tools for parents and Instagram Teen Accounts for underage users.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meta said the report misrepresented its efforts on teen safety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Associated Press reporter Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Massachusetts’ highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state’s lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[43342,188,183,185,186,259,85,25270,499,187,184,189,150,182,190],"class_list":["post-413243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-addiction","tag-blockchain-tech","tag-blockchain-technology","tag-crypto-technology","tag-cryptocurrency-technology","tag-facebook","tag-instagram","tag-lawsuit","tag-meta","tag-metaverse-technology","tag-nft-technology","tag-soul-bound-token","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-token-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413245,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413243\/revisions\/413245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}