Kids under 13 are not allowed to have their Instagram accounts, but for some reason, Meta has allegedly allowed them to have "secret accounts" where they get away with creating them, and the company is ignorant about it. This was the latest allegations of the state which it threw at Meta in their ongoing investigation and lawsuit against the company, centering on the case of how its social media platforms affect children's welfare.
State Alleges Meta Ignored Reports of Kids Under 13 Accounts on Instagram
Towards the end of October, as many as 33 states have come together to raise a case against Meta, and the recent development revolves around the unredacted complaint against the company.
"Within the company, Meta's actual knowledge that millions of Instagram users are under the age of 13 is an open secret that is routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed, and zealously protected from disclosure to the public," says the state.
In 2019, Meta allegedly received 1.1 million reports of Instagram accounts of children under 13. However, only a fraction of it was disabled by the company, and for the other existing ones, Meta has collected children's data without parental consent.
A court filing on Wednesday requests more names to be unredacted from the files amidst Meta's request to redact more names. Meta has already agreed to reverse some redacted information.
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Meta Allegedly Harvests Children Data, Zuckerberg Knows?
In 2018, Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, its CEO and co-founder, also received an estimated 4 million US kids account reports from 2015, but the state alleges the company did not ask for parental consent for their data access. Additionally, an internal document also said that the company is doing "very little to keep" the kids under 13 off their platforms.
Meta's Past Issues on Underaged Social Media Access
This was not Meta's first tussle with children's online safety and well-being in court, particularly as when it was still called Facebook, the company faced one of the largest controversies in its history because of a whistleblower. This is with Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee who previously claimed that the company disregards how its toxic platform affects children's mental health.
Haugen was not the only former Facebook employee who went forward. Others joined hands with her in providing information regarding the company's issues, spread out across its different platforms.
Their collective goal was to change how Facebook/Meta enforces age restrictions on the app and help children get a good experience online, but for those who are of the eligible age.
Years later, this was revisited, with Meta facing massive complaints from US states that center on their disregard for children's safety online, particularly for their mental health. Another whistleblower has risen amidst this hearing and he is another Meta employee, with these new allegations against Meta where they ignore accounts of kids under 13 recently unredacted and gives more context to the world.
