On Friday, a group of investors filed a class action lawsuit against FacebookThe parent company Meta Platforms claimed that the company did not disclose some content-based issues related to social media platforms.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of investors who bought Facebook stock earlier this year, argued that Facebook’s moderators “seriously violated public trust” by using its users to increase profits.
Investors are seeking compensation for their stocks, claiming that Facebook’s false statements caused the stock price to be artificially increased.
“The defendant has repeatedly falsely stated to investors and the public that using Facebook’s products will not harm children, the company takes active and effective measures to prevent the spread of harmful content, and Facebook applies its standards of conduct to all users equally,” the legal document said.
The lawsuit argues that although Facebook promotes all these statements as facts, the company has not actually taken any measures to prevent the spread of misinformation. Other arguments point out that Facebook tells investors that it has “the strongest set of content policies” but knows this is wrong.
This information comes from a recent testimony in Congress by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who has repeatedly described the platform as “dangerous.” As a former executive of the company, Haogen produced internal documents showing that the company knew that Facebook was used to spread objections and cause harm to users, but “refused to correct these problems.”
Chestnut/Getty
The lawsuit stated that, on the contrary, Facebook “chooses to maximize profits at the expense of the safety of users and the general public, causing Facebook to face serious reputation, legal, and financial losses.”
Facebook is also trying to target a “valuable but untapped audience” of teenagers, and the company allegedly knows that they are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of social media.
In addition, it is reported that Facebook has exempted millions of “well-known” users from the code of conduct. Wall Street Journal The original article describing the reported file.
Facebook and its partner platforms Instagram, Reportedly conducted its own research on the impact of its products on girls.
This study found that Facebook “makes[s] For one-third of girls, the body image problem is worse”, and many of them “attribute the increase in anxiety and depression to Instagram. “According to reports, this has led to an increase in suicidal thoughts and eating disorders among these girls.
The lawsuit also claimed that Facebook had made a “weak and ineffective response” to prevent illegal activities on the platform. This includes members of drug cartels and human traffickers using Facebook.
Founded in 2004 mark ZuckerbergSince then, Facebook has become the world’s largest social networking platform, with an estimated 3.5 billion users on its website.
The lawsuit alleges that the company’s joint actions disclosed by the whistleblower constituted “[employing of] Equipment, plans and techniques used for fraud. “
This lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal issues that Facebook has encountered in recent weeks. According to reports, on November 4, the now-defunct startup Phhhoto filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company, accusing the tech giant of plagiarizing its work. New York Times.
Weekly newspaper Meta Platforms has been contacted for comments.
