AGs from 44 states urge Facebook to abandon plans to launch a version of Instagram for kids under 13, citing research about the harm social media can cause kids
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol :
Context & Ripple Effects
The AG letter is the second major escalation in a month: an international coalition of 35 children's and consumer groups had already pressed Zuckerberg directly in April, and the state attorneys general now add the weight of 44 state offices to the same demand. The pressure campaign is bipartisan at every level — state AGs, then Senator Markey and House members writing separately by September.
What makes this more than a letter-writing exercise is where the same actors went next: a nine-state bipartisan coalition opened a formal investigation into how Instagram attracts young users, and two years later 42 attorneys general sued Meta over addictive features aimed at kids.
First-order effects
- Facebook's plan to launch an under-13 version of Instagram now faces opposition from 44 state AGs on top of the consumer-group coalition, raising the political cost of shipping the product as designed.
Second-order effects
- The AGs' stated research concerns become the evidentiary basis for harder tools: the same coalition moves from letters to a formal multistate investigation of Instagram's teen-targeting practices.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — letters, then investigation, then the 42-state lawsuit against Meta — child-safety claims shift from reputational pressure to court-tested liability for platform design choices aimed at minors.
The trend: State attorneys general are converting child-safety complaints about social platforms into coordinated investigations and litigation, making youth product design a legal exposure rather than just a PR problem.