Letter to U.S. Senate Shares Concerns about Social Media Platforms Exploiting Young People for Profit
PHOENIX --- Attorney General Mark Brnovich joined a bipartisan coalition of 52 attorneys general expressing strong support for the hearings being conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee addressing protection and safety of kids and teens using social media.
Attorneys general have been watchful and concerned over the impacts of social media on youth. Those concerns have grown with the recent research from Facebook’s own internal studies showing that social media is inflicting harm—in the form of increased mental distress, bullying, suicide, and other self-harm—on a significant number of kids.
"Social media impacts the health, safety, and well-being of our children, and we have to understand the lengths that providers go to capture and maintain their attention," said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "Big Tech companies must be held to the same standards as every other industry when it comes to prohibitions against unfair, deceptive, and harmful acts and practices."
The coalition’s letter recognizes the hearings will uncover critical information about the business practices that social media companies are using to gain the attention of more young people on their platforms. Attorneys general believe the current and future well-being of our nation’s youth is at stake.
In May 2021, Attorney General Brnovich and three other attorneys general wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting information about Facebook’s plan to launch a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13. Last week, in advance of the Congressional hearings, Facebook announced their intent to “pause” the project.
The attorneys general write that “More engagement by the user equals more data to leverage for advertising, which equals greater profit. This prompts social media companies to design their algorithms and other features to psychologically manipulate young users into a state of addiction to their cell phone screens.”
Copy of Coalition's Letter.