‘You need to make your products safe for kids,’ Tennessee AG demands of social media giants

(The Daily Signal) – Instagram’s parent company, Meta, knew the harm the platform was inflicting on minors and did nothing to mitigate it, according to a lawsuit filed against the social media giant. 

In 2023, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., calling on the company to prioritize the protection of minors.

“Over about the last 15 years, the mental health of American teenagers has plummeted in anxiety, suicidality, depression, sleep deprivation—all these metrics that show something is not right,” Skrmetti told “The Daily Signal Podcast.”

“Not only do we have experts who say it was social media, there have been a variety of leaks from within the social media companies that indicate they knew that it was having this negative effect,” he says. 

While Skrmetti says that “social media [are] not inherently bad,” and the lawsuit is not intended to micromanage platforms such as Instagram, it’s Meta’s responsibility to make its products “safe for kids.”

Skrmetti joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss where the lawsuit against Meta stands. He also discusses his state’s fight to protect women’s sports against males who identify as women entering female athletics. 

Listen to the podcast here.