News Mashup for October 2023
U.S. Attorney’s General v. Meta
On October 24, California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a bipartisan coalition in the filing of a federal lawsuit against Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates (Meta) in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California. In a press release issued at the time of the filing, Attorney General Bonta said that Meta “designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children and teens to their mental and physical detriment.”
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Meta violated federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (protects online privacy of children under 13 years old), California's False Advertising Law (prohibits false and misleading advertising), and California’s Unfair Competition Law (prohibits unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business practices).
States included in the filing against Meta are AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MI, NE, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, VA, WA, WV, and WI. Florida is filing its own federal suit and related actions by D.C., MA, MS, NH, OK, TN, UT, and VT are occurring in state courts.
The press release issued by Bonta’s office on the 24th outlines elements of the complaint as follows:
• Creating a business model focused on maximizing young users’ time on its platforms.
• Employing harmful and psychologically manipulative platform features while misleading the public about the safety of those features.
• Publishing reports purporting to show misleadingly low rates of user harms.
• In spite of the overwhelming evidence linking its platforms to young user harms, refusing to address those harms while continuing to conceal and downplay its platforms’ adverse effects.
Click on the links below to learn more. A copy of the federal lawsuit can be found here.
Office of Rob Bonta Attorney General. October 24, 2023. Attorney General Bonta files lawsuit against Meta over harms to youth mental health. Press Release. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-meta-over-harms-youth-mental-health.
Barbara Ortutay. October 24, 2023. California, dozens of other states sue Meta for alleged harm to children's mental health with Facebook, Instagram. KCRA. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://www.kcra.com/article/california-ag-states-lawsuit-meta-young-peoples-mental-health-facebook-instagram/45627958.
Leo Schwartz and Alexandra Sternlicht. October 24, 2023. 33 state attorneys general sue Meta for harming kids, alleging Facebook and Instagram created a ‘national youth mental health crisis.’ Fortune. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://fortune.com/2023/10/24/a-bipartisan-coalition-of-33-attorneys-general-is-suing-meta-for-harming-youth/.
Cristiano Lima and Naomi Nix. October 24, 2023. 41 states sue Meta, claiming Instagram, Facebook are addictive, harm kids. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 31, 2023 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/24/meta-lawsuit-facebook-instagram-children-mental-health/.
Brian Fung. October 24, 2023. Dozens of states sue Instagram-parent Meta over ‘addictive’ features and youth mental health harms. CNN Business. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/24/tech/states-sue-instagram-parent-meta/index.html.
Jonathan Stempel, Diane Bartz and Nate Raymond. October 25, 2023. Meta's Instagram linked to depression, anxiety, insomnia in kids - US states' lawsuit. Reuters. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://www.reuters.com/legal/dozens-us-states-sue-meta-platforms-harming-mental-health-young-people-2023-10-24/.
Levi Sumagaysay. October 26, 2023. Bonta and other attorneys general sue Meta. CalMatters. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://calmatters.org/newsletter/gavin-newsom-china-president/#wm-story-1 .
Rochelle Barrand. October 26, 2023. US states sue Facebook and Instagram owner Meta claiming social platforms are harming children’s mental health. National World. Retrieved October 30, 2023 from https://www.nationalworld.com/us/news/us-states-united-states-sue-facebook-instagram-meta-social-media-harming-children-mental-health-4385696.
Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. May 23, 2023. Social media and youth mental health: U.S. Surgeon General Advisory. U.S. Public Health Service. Retrieved October 31, 2023 from https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf.
Salen Tekinbaş, Katie, Madison E. Taylor, Andre Adame, Stephen M. Schueller, and F. Ria Khan. October 2023. Youth, Mental Health, and the Metaverse: Reviewing the Literature. Connected Learning Alliance. Retrieved from https://clalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Youth-Mental-Health-and-the-Metaverse-Reviewing-the-Literature_Oct2023.pdf.
Well-Being of Young Adults
This month, Harvard’s School of Graduate Education Making Caring Common Project published the results a mental wellness survey of young adults and teens. Despite the national focus on the teen mental health crisis, the Harvard data indicate that relative to teens, young adults (18–25 years) are experiencing roughly twice the rates of anxiety and depression. Across demographics of gender, culture, race, and economic status the causative factors most often citied by the respondents include financial worries, achievement pressures, relationship deficits, lack of meaning in their lives, and an overall sense that the “world is falling apart” (gun violence, climate change, political discord, war).
While building a more wide-reaching network of mental health providers is key in meeting the mental health needs of young adults, the Harvard report emphasizes the need to focus on prevention strategies that:
Cultivate meaning and purpose in young people, including by engaging them in caring for others and service;
Support young people in developing gratifying and durable relationships; and
Help young people experience their lives as more than the sum of their achievements.
Click on the links below to learn more.
Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Joseph McIntyre, and Eric Torres with Shanae Irving, Sawsan Eskander, and Kiran Bhai. October 2023. On Edge: Understanding and preventing young adults’ mental health challenges. Harvard graduate School of Education. Retrieved October 31, 2023 from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b7c56e255b02c683659fe43/t/6537db8894f0802b6480d38e/1698159503140/On+Edge_FINAL.pdf.
Joni Williams Splett. October 10, 2023. Why more school counselors and psychologists alone won’t solve America’s mental health crisis among students. The Conversation. Retrieved October 29, 2023 from https://theconversation.com/why-more-school-counselors-and-psychologists-alone-wont-solve-americas-mental-health-crisis-among-students-214801.
Joni Williams Splett. October 10, 2023. Doubling counselors in schools won’t solve kids’ mental health crisis—here’s what else to do. Forbes. Retrieved October 29, 2023 from https://fortune.com/2023/10/10/doubling-counselors-in-schools-kids-mental-health-crisis-solutions/.
More Stories in October: : A comprehensive demographic profile of the US evicted population PNAS — 10.02.2023; How insurance companies fill their networks with ‘ghost’ therapists The Seattle Times — 10.03.2023; Adolescents' acute care use for eating disorders has risen Medscape — 10.04.2023; LGBTQ+ students in conservative crosshairs EdSource — 10.05.2023; A framework for public health’s role in mental health promotion and suicide prevention Mental Health America —10.05.2023; Students are missing school because they’re too anxious to show up Education Week — 10.06.2023; Newsom signs bill banning willful defiance suspensions for middle, high school students EdSource — 10.09.2023; Newsom’s veto lets California counties continue taking foster kids’ money CalMatters —10.09.2023; Mental health as important as physical health, survey finds U.S. News and World Report — 10.10.2023; Couch surfing, living in cars: Housing insecurity derails foster kids’ college dreams The Hechinger Report — 10.10.2023; Governor signs AB 665 into law, increasing mental health care access for low-income youth NHeLP — 10.10.2023; Gavin Newsom signs law in ‘overhaul’ of mental health system: It changes decades of practice MindSite News — 10.10.2023; The mental health and well-being of Latinx LGBTQ young people The Trevor Project — 10.12.2023 A conversation with Martin Blank, national community schools leader, about California’s big bet EdSource 10.16.2023; When foster parents don’t want to give back the baby ProPublica — 10.16.2023; California mental health agency on the hot seat as lawmakers review ‘groundbreaking’ law CalMatters — 10.17.2023; The troubled-teen industry offers trauma, not therapy New York Times — 10.19.2023; Debate over parental rights vs. student rights to gender identity privacy comes to Clovis Unified EdSource — 10.23.2023; UC Riverside’s new health center at forefront of national student wellness trend EdSource — 10.25.2023; Risk and protective factors for health behaviour in adolescence in Europe Nature — 10.30.2023; New research looks at life satisfaction in pandemic-era teens with mental health histories Medical Xpress — 10.30.2023.
