The inquiry follows a spring push by 44 state attorneys general urging Facebook to drop an Instagram product for children under 13, citing social media harms. It turns that policy opposition into coordinated scrutiny of Instagram’s youth-growth practices.
Instagram and its parent company face a coordinated bipartisan examination of how the service draws in young people and affects them.
The nine-state coalition establishes youth safety and product design as a shared enforcement issue rather than a state-by-state dispute.
Second-order effects
The inquiry raises the pressure on any child-focused Instagram initiative already challenged by 44 attorneys general, because the same youth-harm concerns are now tied to an active investigation.
Meta’s youth-engagement features become a potential focal point for broader state action, rather than only public criticism of the platform’s plans.
Third-order effects
The later multistate suit suggests state attorneys general are building a durable enforcement channel for claims that social platforms design products to retain young users.
If this pattern persists, platform competition for teen attention will face more coordinated scrutiny of recommendation, engagement, and age-related product choices.
The trend: State attorneys general are increasingly treating youth engagement design at major social platforms as a multistate consumer-protection and product-safety issue.
When social media platforms treat our kids as mere commodities to manipulate for longer screen time engagement & data extraction, it becomes imperative for state attorneys general to engage our investigative authority under our consumer protection laws. https://ago.nebraska.gov/.…
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is probing Instagram's impact on children and teens, increasing Facebook's regulatory problems https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Our research has found that 24% of Instagram users experience hate and harassment on the platform. As this investigation looks into the impact on children and teens, it is clear that Instagram needs to make meaningful change for all users. https://www.adl.org/... https://twitter.…
The 8 bi-partisan attorneys general said they are investigating whether Facebook violated consumer protection laws and put the public at risk by targeting children. https://www.wsj.com/...
Ha. I had missed this. It seems the strategy of Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg hiding under rocks and sending out nice guy Mosseri to cover for them is finally also falling apart. Bad. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
I'm investigating @Meta with a bipartisan, nationwide coalition of AGs over Instagram's impact on our children. Meta pushes Instagram on our children despite knowing that social media can cause them mental and physical harm, and we're taking action to protect our youth.
THIS. Also, those new Meta ads with the creepy animals dancing is more of the same: rebranding Facebook to sell it to children. https://twitter.com/...
We need to know what Facebook knew about the harm Instagram posed for children and why its public statements differed from what its internal studies showed. My office has been independently investigating, and is also proud to join this bipartisan probe. https://www.washingtonpost…
👀Earlier this year, @kyurieff and I asked Adam Mosseri about the opposition from state AGs to ‘IG Kids’. His comments in that interview “helped convince the attorneys general that the company was unlikely to address their concerns absent a challenge.” https://www.wsj.com/...
At some point, it's going to be hard for the marketer brands to keep pumping their nearly $100 billion of funds into thy Land of Sandberg and Zuckerberg. https://twitter.com/...
Now including Oregon: “We are deeply concerned that Instagram may be harming our children. That's why we're conducting this investigation. It's worth noting that this is a bipartisan investigation involving many of America's state AGs. This is an ‘all hands on deck’ moment.” http…
BREAKING Today I opened a nationwide investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly Facebook, for providing and promoting its platform - Instagram - to young people in a way that puts them at risk online and violates state consumer protection laws. https://www.attorneygeneral.…
Today I joined a nationwide investigation into Meta, formerly known as Facebook, for providing and promoting its social media platform Instagram to children and young adults despite knowing that such use is associated with physical and mental health harms.
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general said Thursday it is investigating how Instagram recruits and affects young people, amping up the pressure on parent company Meta Platforms over the potential harms to its users https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
NEW: I am co-leading a nationwide, bipartisan investigation into Instagram. Facebook, or Meta, has known Instagram is linked to depression, eating disorders & suicide among young people. We will identify if any laws were broken and end the abuse for good. https://www.wsj.com/...