While Republican and Democratic lawmakers appear more incapable than ever of working together to pass legislation, they largely agree on one thing: Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) negative impact on children and teens.
A bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general filed a joint federal lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing Faceboook’s parent of knowingly implementing addictive features across its family of apps that have detrimental effects on children’s mental health and contribute to problems like teenage eating disorders.
Another nine attorneys general are also filing lawsuits in their respective states.
“Kids and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health and social media companies like Meta are to blame,” Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s Republican Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti noted that polarization in politics is unlike anything this country has seen “since the Civil War.” Yet Skrmetti is firmly in James’s camp when it comes to Meta.
The political dysfunction is most acute right now in the House of Representatives, which has been without a Speaker for three weeks after a small band of eight hardline conservative Republicans joined all Democrats to approve a “motion to vacate” introduced by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.
META shares opened Wednesday down $5.30, or 1.7%, to $307.25.
