Suing Facebook

A new area of concern for those whose offspring extensively uses Facebook has surfaced as Ohio is suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta, claiming the social media platform misled the public about the effects its products have on children. Mental health, physical well-being of young generation all have been at risk due to negative use of social media app. Reportedly, Facebook’s own internal research showed its Instagram photo-sharing platform might be harmful to the mental health of teenagers, especially girls. An example has been reported where girls suffering from anorexia were recommended to subscribe to groups where weight loss was discussed. It was also claimed that hate speech, and radical and even extremist content were promoted or not filtered out due to flaws in the platform’s system, which the company allegedly knew about but ignored in view of its earnings. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that the accusations are libelous and that the company has never prioritized profits over users.

One thing is clear that obsession to use these apps daily has put human beings on social media addiction. Its impact on young generation is lethal and making them vulnerable to the evils of lethargy, wastage of time and money. Their privacy and health have been put on stake. The fact is supported by the recent whistleblower Haugen’s complaints about the impact of Facebook on young generation. At the same time, its positive use is improving the life standard and income of many families. Users need to stop their altogether reliance on social media while the tech giants need to fasten up their research and development areas for better tackling such crises and improving their services to tackle bad impacts on its users as well as to ensure their privacy. Commercialism and profitability should not be the only aim of tech giants. Rather, their positive use and impact can bring revolutionary changes in the world.