Mark Zuckerberg Sued for Ignoring Warnings on Child Safety Features
In the final days of the previous month, numerous US States, such as California, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, initiated legal actions against Meta Platforms. The lawsuits accuse the company of exploiting features on its social media platforms to entice young individuals, leading them to become addicted to harmful content, all while neglecting their safety. Recently, the Massachusetts lawsuit underwent revisions, making its content accessible to the public without any redactions. The disclosed claims and allegations within the documents depict a troubling portrayal of the management of Facebook and Instagram, as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s purported handling of matters concerning teenagers.
Business Insider has reported that it has reviewed the Massachusetts filings and it has highlighted two particularly troubling cases. The first case mentions that in 2021 Meta Platform’s director of global affairs, Nick Clegg, contacted Zuckerberg highlighting a request made by Instagram’s wellness team. The team called for more staff to address “currently under-invested” areas of adolescent welfare, “problems, bullying + harassment, relationships [and suicide and self-harm]”.
The unedited filings of the meta-lawsuit are grand indictments
According to the report, Clegg told Zuckerberg that it was an “increasingly urgent” issue that could affect the mental health of young people. He also brought up the understaffing and fragmentation of the team managing the teenagers’ welfare department. However, according to the report, Zuckerberg “ignored Clegg’s request for months.”
Another such account of the 102-page document claims that Zuckerberg refused internal attempts to remove the cosmetic surgery filters that were available on the platform’s original camera. These face filters would improve their appearance, often by enhancing one or more features or improving the quality of their skin tone.
According to the report, the lawsuit filing mentioned that in 2019, the Meta VP sent an email to management to change its policies and remove such filters, which received unanimous support. But the company’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, noted that Zuckerberg questioned whether such filters actually “represented real harm.”
It should be noted that these claims are part of a larger lawsuit against Meta Platforms, which emphasizes that the company was allegedly not focused on keeping minors safe, and their authenticity is currently unproven.
