COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new lawsuit filed on Tuesday against Meta said the social media company “knowingly designed and deployed harmful features that purposefully addict children and teens.” The lawsuit was filed by attorneys general of 42 states, including South Carolina's Alan Wilson.
According to a statement from the South Carolina Attorney General, “The company knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and its other social media platforms that purposefully addict children and teens. At the same time, Meta falsely assured the public that these features are safe and suitable for young users.”
The lawsuit seeks financial damages and and end to the company's practices that the state said violate the law.
RELATED: Facebook, Instagram sued by dozens of states for allegedly harming children's mental health
A Pew Research Center poll found that almost all teens ages 13 to 17 use some type of social media platform.
News 19 asked a counselor who works with children about the claims made in the suit about whether Facebook and Instagram could be harmful.
“Social media provides kind of like that dopamine experience for children and adolescents. It gives us that quick reward,” said Samantha Cooper, owner of Purposely Mindful, a counseling service aimed at helping create healthy parent-teen relationships.
Cooper said social media can also have a negative impact on teens and children.
“It has the potential chance of, you know, allowing it to release anxiety or depression, just depending on the usage and the experiences had while on there,” Cooper said.
“We can’t stand by and do nothing while Big Tech continues to engage in behavior that knowingly harms our children and breaks the law,” Wilson said in a statement.
So, what can parents do to help reduce harmful impacts of social media use?
“That looks like setting limits," Cooper said. "There are many apps out there that kind of set limits on the phone that would be a really great way to support our children.”
News 19 reached out to Meta about the lawsuit and the claims. A spokesperson said in a statement:
“We share the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families. We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path.”
In his statement about the Meta lawsuit, Wilson said the US Surgeon General has deemed a “youth mental health crisis” because of the negative impacts of social media.