Based on the account of Meta “whistleblower” and left-wing activist Frances Haugen, attorneys general from multiple red and blue states are investigating Instagram for its emotional effects on young people.
Among the states involved are California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
The New York Times reports:
The move comes after a trove of documents from a former employee detailed research inside of the social media company that suggested teenagers suffered body image issues when using Instagram. The documents, called The Facebook Papers, were shared with journalists in October. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the documents and the issues at Instagram with the help of Frances Haugen, the whistle-blower…
Ms. Haugen and public interest groups have filed at least nine complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission claiming Meta mislead investors about its efforts to protect users from disinformation and hate.
However, according to Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak, Haugen has a “record of donations to far-left Democrats and a history of raising issues about purported bias while at previous employers.”
“She is working with Democrat operatives to roll out her complaint and has the same lawyers as the anonymous Ukraine ‘whistleblower’ whose allegations led to Donald Trump’s impeachment, but who reportedly turned out to be then-Vice President Joe Biden’s top advisor on the country,” Rosiak described. Haugen donated to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) congressional campaign in 2020, as well as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the “Courage to Change” Political Action Committee.
In any case, attorneys general from both parties are working on the Instagram investigation.
“Facebook, now Meta, has failed to protect young people on its platforms and instead chose to ignore or, in some cases, double down on known manipulations that pose a real threat to physical and mental health — exploiting children in the interest of profit,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat.
“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,” added Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, a Republican.
Last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would change its name to “Meta” in order to emphasize its new “metaverse” initiative.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin this next chapter. Facebook is one of the most used products in the history of the world,” Zuckerberg said. “It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly it just doesn’t encompass everything that we do.”
“Today we’re seen as a social media company,” he added, “but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people. And the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started.”
“We live for what we’re building. And while we make mistakes, we keep learning and building and moving forward.”