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Writer's pictureThe San Juan Daily Star

Justice Dept. sues Instagram, META to stop deceptive practices that harm minors

Lawsuit also addresses ‘addictive technologies,’ unmoderated content


A lawsuit filed by the island Justice Department against two tech giants contends that the companies’ regulation of Spanish-language content on their social media platforms is minimal compared to the regulation of English-language content, exposing children and young people in Puerto Rico to a greater risk of having access to content that threatens their well-being and mental health.

By The Star Staff


The Puerto Rico Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Instagram LLC and META Platforms Inc., the companies that own the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, to stop their abusive and deceptive practices, as well as their addictive technologies and dangerous content, that the suit says cause severe psychological damage and threaten the well-being and mental health of users on the island, especially minors.


The companies claim that they have adequate and sufficient controls in place to regulate their platforms and the content of their posts. However, a rigorous and extensive investigation led by the Department of Justice’s Office of Monopoly Affairs confirmed that this is false, according to the lawsuit, and, worse still, they design their platforms with full knowledge that they lead teenagers to experience high levels of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, the companies are aware that predatory adults contact minors through their platforms and have failed to warn parents and effectively counter this problem, according to the lawsuit.


In the case of Puerto Rico, the situation is worse, the lawsuit contends, since the companies’ regulation of Spanish-language content is minimal compared to the regulation of English-language content. The situation exposes children and young people on the island to a greater risk of having access to content that threatens their well-being and mental health. Therefore, the Justice Department is demanding, among other things, a change in the two companies’ business practices and restitution for damages they have caused.


“The lawsuit filed constitutes a milestone in the execution of the Government of Puerto Rico’s policy aimed at ensuring that social media companies comply with all applicable legal parameters, including ensuring that their competition methods and practices are fair, do not use addictive technologies, do not violate the right to privacy, or expose our minors to content of a sexual or criminal nature due to the lack of adequate controls in the moderation of the content they disseminate,” Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández said.


As argued by the agency in the lawsuit for injunction and damages, the companies exploit the neurological vulnerabilities of minors, whom they direct toward compulsive and excessive use of their platforms, knowing that by doing so they contribute to a mental health epidemic.


Reports submitted to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta link excessive use of social networks with negative effects such as depression, anxiety and insomnia, as well as interference with young people’s education and daily life. In 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic, more than 36% of high school students on the island reported episodes of mental anguish. According to the information obtained throughout the Justice Department investigation, it was found that over two million Puerto Ricans, who comprise 60% of the population, use the social network Facebook, and over 75.9% of Instagram users are minors.


“Our goal is to vindicate the rights of thousands of Puerto Ricans, particularly our youth, from the deceptive business practices employed by these social media companies that have profoundly altered the social and psychological reality of this generation through the excessive use of powerful technologies through which consumers are abused for economic gain,” Emanuelli Hernández said.

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Dec 26, 2024

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