Meta harvested personal information from Instagram accounts belonging to users under the age of 13 without obtaining parental consent, according to a new document submitted to the court.
The continuing federal case surrounds the business practices of Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, with regards to the mental health of young users. The lawsuit, which is supported by the attorneys general of 33 US states, is a major development in the tech regulatory landscape.
Filed in California in October 2023, the case accuses Meta of disregarding the mental wellbeing of children.
The state officials claim they received over a million complaints from parents, friends and others between 2019 and 2023 regarding accounts owned by minors on Instagram. Meta, however, deliberately retained majority of the reported accounts and “disabled only a fraction” of them. Meta committed violations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) by harvesting children’s personal information without their parents’ consent, according to the complaint.
The suit accuses Meta of contributing to the “youth mental health crisis” in the US through its “addictive” features. “Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” the complaint says. “Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains.”
Further allegations are that Meta is aware of the alleged harm its products are causing to young people, but the company is unwilling to take remedial measures. Meta has time and again been accused of profiting off potentially harmful and illegal content as it generates higher user engagement.
In response to the allegations, Meta said verifying a user’s age online is a complicated process. “Instagram’s Terms of Use prohibit users under the age of 13 (or higher in certain countries) and we have measures in place to remove these accounts when we identify them,” a Meta spokesperson told CNN.
“However, verifying the age of people online is a complex industry challenge.” The verification is particularly more challenging in the case of users aged under 13 as they do not have an ID, the statement added.
With regards to online safety, Meta has called for parental approval for app downloads made by their children. In this way, app store giants, primarily Google, owner of Play Store, and Apple, which owns the App Store, will also be responsible for the safety of minors who download certain apps.
“With this solution, when a teen wants to download an app, app stores would be required to notify their parents, much like when parents are notified if their teen attempts to make a purchase,” Meta said.
