What exactly is Meta accused of?

A report in The New York Times stated that Meta was aware of the existence of millions of users under the age of 13 on its platforms and allegedly kept this information secret.

Meanwhile, Engadget reported a complaint alleging Meta received more than 1.1 million messages about Instagram users under the age of 13 between 2019 and 2023, but only a fraction of those accounts were disabled and data collection continued without parental consent.

Company reaction

In response, Meta said that it does not allow users under the age of 13 on Instagram and will take necessary steps to delete accounts of minors once they are detected. The company acknowledged the challenges of online age verification, highlighting the complexity of the problem.

In its defense, Meta offered to support federal legislation requiring parental consent for children 16 and under who download apps from stores. The company says this approach will eliminate the need for individuals, especially those under 13, to provide sensitive information to multiple age verification apps.

Meta has many problems

This lawsuit follows a previous lawsuit in October in which a group of US states accused Meta of hooking children under 13 to its platform by implementing psychologically manipulative features that allegedly encouraged coercive and excessive use of the platform by young users.

This development comes on the heels of a 2021 Facebook study that found the harmful effects of Instagram on a significant percentage of young people, especially girls. Meta Corporation is facing increasing attention on its practices, which has led to closer scrutiny of its responsibility to protect the welfare of minor users on its platforms.