Instagram is facing allegations of attracting and retaining users under the age of 13, despite the company’s policy prohibiting such accounts. A complaint lodged by several U.S. states accuses Instagram of making children under the age of 13 addicted to its platform.
The complaint, which was declassified recently, reveals that Instagram, according to iDigic, knowingly lured young children and teenagers into compulsive and addictive social media use. It alleges that the company systematically deceived the public regarding the risks associated with its platforms.
Between 2019 and 2023, Instagram received reports alerting it to the existence of 1.1 million accounts belonging to users under 13 years old. However, only a small fraction of these accounts were deleted. The complaint further alleges that these underage accounts were subject to data exploitation without obtaining any parental consent.
In response to these allegations, Instagram argues that verifying the age of its users is a challenging task. The company supports federal legislation requiring parental consent for those under 16 to access an application store.
This is not the first time Instagram has faced legal action. In November 2021, several U.S. states sued the company, accusing it of having a harmful impact on the mental and physical health of its youngest users. These lawsuits followed internal studies by Instagram that concluded the application had a detrimental effect on users’ health.
