US states: ‘Meta preyed on data from underage users’

Since 2019, Meta is said to have received more than 1.1 million reports about Instagram users under the age of 13. The company is said to have deleted ‘a fraction’ of these accounts and also collected data about these users.

According to The New York Times, Meta was also aware of the number of Instagram accounts of young people under the age of thirteen. The editorial staff of the American newspaper this week was able to view the uncensored version of the complaint from dozens of American states to Meta in which the social media company is accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act: a US law that must protect the online privacy of children.

According to the prosecutors, Meta did everything it could not to make public the number of users under the age of thirteen on Instagram, even though this data had been rigorously analyzed and confirmed within the company walls. According to prosecutors, Meta allegedly preyed on the data of these Instagram users. According to prosecutors, the company did not make age verification systems a priority and ensured that young people under the age of thirteen could lie about their age if they wanted to create an Instagram account.

Meta has responded to the reporting of The New York Times. The company says it has been trying for years to make online experiences safe and age-appropriate. The company also referred to Instagram’s policy terms which state that users under the age of 13 are not allowed to create an account on the platform. Earlier this month, Meta stated that app stores, and not app developers like Meta, should check the age of underage users.