Why Meta's judgment could change the future of Facebook and Instagram

The states suing Meta are asking for several changes to the way Instagram and Facebook work for young people. They want Meta to: implement a parental verification process for teenage users; change your “dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms”; remove various image filters that change the appearance of photos; end automatic playback of video content; prohibit the creation of multiple accounts; put an end to quick or disappearing posts, like Instagram Stories. All of these features are essential to the current user experience on Meta's platforms. These features are also designed to keep users, including teens and children, on the platforms as often and for as long as possible, the States argue. They claim that Meta makes it difficult for young people to use the platform less, through features such as frequent notifications created to encourage them to return to the applications. By allegedly targeting underage users, the lawsuit claims that Meta "chose to exploit" young people to grow its user base and grow its business. Today, the value of Meta on the stock exchange is around US$1.5 trillion. Meta has consistently denied all of these allegations. "We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident that the evidence will demonstrate our long-standing commitment to supporting young people," a Meta spokeswoman said in a statement. The proceedings will be led by Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, chief federal judge in California. She was the judge in the high-profile trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman and built a reputation, over her nearly 20-year career, for being incisive and direct. 'Public nuisance' In a recent ruling against Meta, a New Mexico state judge fined the company a total of $942 million and ordered it to make changes similar to those other states now require. The changes ordered by judge Bryan Biedscheid include the elimination of like counts for users under 18 on Instagram and Facebook, the prohibition of teenagers sending or receiving nudity through the platforms and the limitation of push notifications from applications to certain times of the day. The judge also declared Meta a "public nuisance" similar to a factory that pollutes the air people breathe, causing "harmful effects" that affect an entire population. Meta stated that it will appeal the decision. While Judge Biedscheid's order requires Meta to make changes only in New Mexico, if the 30 states win the lawsuit against Meta, the company will almost certainly need to implement changes to the platform across the US. The states involved in the process represent almost two-thirds of the country's population. A recent ruling by a federal court concluded that social media is a contributing factor to the deterioration of mental health among young people Reuters via BBC Counting "likes", for example, has been part of Meta since its beginnings, when it was still called Facebook. These days, likes are ubiquitous on social media platforms. It's the main way people interact with text, photos and videos they see online. However, likes are increasingly seen as a way of fostering negative feelings, particularly among young people. Kaley, a young woman who won her case against Meta earlier this year, described in court testimony how she created dozens of accounts on YouTube and Instagram. She used the account system to generate likes on her own posts, hoping to increase engagement with other users while increasing her feelings of validation and self-esteem. Kaley was just nine years old at the time. She said she remembered feeling depressed, something she was later diagnosed with when she was 10 years old. Research carried out in recent years has shown that engagement metrics, such as the number of likes, can generate feelings of rejection and depression in teenagers. In the lawsuit brought by the States against Meta, in which the company claims to have turned over more than 2 million documents, the lawyers pointed to Meta's own research, which demonstrated that similar counts boosted "social comparison", that is, the mental act of evaluating one's own self-esteem in relation to images of another person. This Instagram-driven social comparison has been linked to "increased loneliness, worsened body image, and negative mood or affect," according to internal research from Meta. As Judge Biedscheid stated, the way Meta's platforms have operated for more than a decade has been part of a growing "youth mental health crisis" in New Mexico and elsewhere. We use artificial intelligence to translate this report, originally written in English. The text was reviewed by a journalist