Meta products designed to prey on teenage vulnerability says US lawsuit

Unredacted documents show Meta designed products to prey on teenagers’ vulnerabilities, according to a lawsuit filed in the US. An internal Meta presentation in the filing acknowledges that “teens are insatiable when it comes to ‘feel good’ dopamine effects,” and “every time one of our teen users finds something unexpected their brains deliver them a dopamine hit.” The lawsuit, brought by people from a number of US states, involves multiple social media companies and argues that these products were defective in their design and harmful to the consumer. The case comes after a landmark settlement against the anonymous chat site Omegle, resulting in the site being shut down. US law has so far protected social media companies from being sued for what users do on their platforms. Meta says it didn’t design its products to be addictive for teens.