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"At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being. That's just not true."
Mark Zuckerberg, on his own facebook page, October 2021, as quoted by Reuters [reuters.com].
Despite years of discussions, US Congress hasn't been able to pass new online protections for children.
This Tuesday, 42 US states took matters in their own hands, and sued Meta [Platforms] and its Instagram unit. An important factor in the decision to go to court was the US Congress testimony of a Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen (testimony 1 [congress.gov], 2 [house.gov] (pdf), hearing (context) [congress.gov]).
According to the federal lawsuit (pdf here [ca.gov]), Meta
While much of the complaint includes information conditionally under seal as part of the investigation by the attorneys general, publicly available sources — including evidence disclosed by former Meta employees — also detail Meta’s efforts to attract young users and make its platforms addictive to children and teens. For example, the Wall Street Journal published [wsj.com] an internal Facebook document in 2021 that said the following about young users: “They are a valuable but untapped audience.”