In a newly released lawsuit, it has been claimed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other top executives at the social media giant were fully aware that millions of users on Instagram were underage. The lawsuit, filed by 33 states including New York, accuses Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, of neglecting the harm caused to young users while implementing addictive features to keep them hooked on the apps.

According to the unredacted complaint, Meta's knowledge of underage users on Instagram was described as an "open secret" that was documented, analyzed, and protected from public disclosure within the company. The lawsuit alleges that from the first quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2023, Meta received over 1.1 million reports of under-13 users on Instagram through in-app reporting systems. Shockingly, the company only disabled a fraction of those accounts and continued to collect children's data without parental consent, violating a federal law that prohibits the collection of personal data from users under 13.

The unredacted version of the lawsuit also sheds new light on Meta's internal response to whistleblower allegations made by former employee Frances Haugen. Haugen famously testified on Capitol Hill in 2021, revealing that Meta prioritized profits over user safety despite internal research showing the harm caused by its platforms. The lawsuit cites messages between Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, where Otway acknowledges that the Wall Street Journal's arguments were difficult to rebut because they were based on Meta's own research. She expressed concern about the fallout from the article, as their research confirmed what had long been suspected.

The lawsuit claims that Meta executives were briefed as early as 2017 that targeting children under the age of 13 would boost the company's acquisition rate when users turned 13. Internal research from March 2021 also revealed that Instagram's recommendation algorithm recommended content related to eating disorders to users who had engaged with similar content in the past. Test accounts created by Meta employees confirmed that the algorithm suggested accounts related to anorexia.

Meta's actions have violated federal laws and have caused significant harm to young users. The attorneys general of the 33 states involved in the lawsuit are seeking unspecified financial damages and "injunctive relief" to prevent Meta from engaging in harmful business practices.

In response to the lawsuit, Meta stated that it was disappointed with the states' decision to file a suit instead of working with the company to address concerns. They reiterated that Instagram's terms of use prohibit users under the age of 13 in the United States and claimed to have measures in place to remove underage accounts when identified. Meta also highlighted the challenges of verifying people's ages and expressed a desire for federal legislation that would require app stores to obtain parental approval for teen users.

The lawsuit against Meta is part of a larger federal lawsuit filed by multiple states, accusing the company of unfairly targeting young users on Instagram and Facebook while hiding internal studies on user harms. The privacy charges in the case revolve around the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law that requires online services targeting children to obtain parental permission before collecting personal information from users under 13. If found guilty, Meta could face substantial civil penalties.