Engagement discontent

US lawsuits can change social-media functioning

In an unusual concerted move, 41 US states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits, accusing Meta of designing algorithms that harm children, and concealing internal research that provides evidence of such harm. The bipartisan group of attorneys general is also suing the social-media giant for restitution to the families they allege were harmed by platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which are run by Meta. Over 60 per cent of American teenagers use Instagram. These cases are unprecedented because they apply the norms of consumer protection to companies typically viewed as technology-driven information services. Indeed, this sort of concerted bipartisan legal action has only occurred in the past in lawsuits that forced changes in the practices of the tobacco and pharma sectors. By analogy to those historical precedents, these could force massive transformations in the way social-media platforms and apps work.

The thrust of the lawsuits is that Meta chose to maximise its profits by deliberately ignoring evidence it had gathered, showing that minors were being harmed by the way social-media platforms worked. The allegation is that the company exploited and harmed children by designing algorithms that exploited the vulnerabilities of developing brains. As a result, young users often developed anxiety, despair, eating disorders, and insomnia. Moreover, the lawsuits allege that Meta published misleading data to show low rates of negative and harmful experiences by users. Meta’s subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram require parental authorisation from users under the age of 13 in order to create an account. But a lawsuit by 33 states also claims that Meta obtained and monetised personal data from users under the legal age limit who haven’t given the required consent. Another eight states have filed separate legal actions with similar allegations.

The lawsuit says that Meta used recommendation algorithms that exploited the ways in which dopamine production is triggered in young brains. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter hormone that delivers pleasure, and addictions are closely connected to the triggering of dopamine production. The suits allege Meta chose to exploit those vulnerabilities through targeted features such as dopamine-manipulating algorithms. They cite “likes” and social comparison features known by Meta to harm young users; audiovisual and haptic alerts that pull young users to social media even while at school and during the night; visual filter features known to promote body dysmorphia; and content-presentation formats, like infinite scroll, and ephemeral content designed to prevent attempts to disengage with social media.

Some of this evidence comes courtesy of a whistle-blower Frances Haugen, who testified before the US Congress in 2021, citing internal studies from Meta. The US surgeon general has issued a statement that social media is a driver of a “national youth mental health crisis”. Many experts from fields like neurology are also cited in the suits and the medical evidence of linkage to addiction could ultimately be crucial. Social media’s business model is based upon engagement and its monetisation. The more hours users spend on platforms, the higher the ad revenue that can be generated, and the more the monetisable insights that can be derived from data analysis. If the courts decide that engagement leads to addiction and has other harmful impacts, especially on teenagers and children, the entire industry will have to review its practices.