Washington Post (WP) has published an investigation revealing that Instagram has been used in the recent years for trafficking in female domestic migrant workers.
Corporate conductConfirmed
Instagram faces child sex trafficking allegations
Instagram is accused of enabling child sex trafficking through its marketplaces.
Instagram made 'attorney-client privilege' swag hats for employees who concealed kids safety docs in court battle
Instagram allegedly made hats for its employees with the phrase “attorney-client privilege” – an “utterly sick” joke about using legal loopholes to conceal explosive legal documents about kids social media addiction, according to critics.
Corporate conductConfirmed
Instagram abandoned encryption plans for DMs
Instagram abandoned plans to encrypt direct messages, citing concerns about protecting children on the platform.
He also discussed previously abandoned plans to encrypt Instagram’s direct messages, noting that doing so would have made it harder to protect children on the platform.
Corporate conductAllegation
Instagram is accused of harming teens' mental health
Multiple school districts and local governments allege Instagram harms children and teenagers' mental health.
Multiple cases have been filed by school districts and local governments alleging that social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok and Youtube harm children and teenagers' mental health.
Corporate conductConfirmed
Instagram apologizes for silencing Black voices
Instagram apologized for algorithmically silencing Black voices.
On Tuesday, questioning of Adam Mosseri, the Instagram CEO, began with the lawyer for the states accusing the company of touting safety features for teens, but not being forthcoming that young people don’t use them.
Privacy & surveillanceConfirmed
Instagram enables 13-17 year-old business accounts
Instagram allows young users aged 13-17 to set up business accounts, making their contact information publicly available.
The first was Instagram allowing young users, ages 13-17, to set up business accounts on the platform, which made those users’ contact information publicly available.
Instagram was fined $402 million in the EU for making young users’ data public | The Verge
Corporate conductAllegation
A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general sued Meta in 2023
A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general sued Meta in 2023, alleging features on Facebook and Instagram are addictive and are aimed at kids and teens.
The deal cut short a landmark trial in federal court in Oakland, California, where the Instagram and Facebook parent company was fighting claims that it deliberately designed features that get children addicted.
A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general sued Meta in 2023, alleging features on Facebook and Instagram are addictive and are aimed at kids and teens.
Massachusetts regulators say Instagram’s design is detrimental to health and well-being and that the company misled the public about the platform’s dangers, thus creating a public nuisance.
The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell sued Instagram’s parent company under laws prohibiting unfair and deceptive trade practices and public nuisances.
Court orders Instagram and Facebook's Meta to pay $567M to address kids' mental health online
Corporate conductConfirmed
Instagram design practices face legal claims
Instagram is held accountable for consumer-protection violations related to its design features and business practices as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Section 230 does not protect it from such claims.
On appeal, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concluded that Section 230 — which for decades has shielded social media companies from lawsuits related to content hosted on their platforms — does not protect Instagram from claims arising from the company’s own design features and business practices.
Corporate conductAllegation
Instagram faces allegations over WhatsApp
Government lawyers argued the company's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp in 2014 were part of Meta's "buy or bury" strategy to maintain market dominance.
Government lawyers argued the company's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp in 2014 were part of Meta's "buy or bury" strategy to maintain market dominance.
Meta Wins FTC Monopoly Lawsuit Over Instagram, WhatsApp Purchases - Business Insider
In the Meta case, the FTC claimed the company shouldn't have been allowed to buy Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, and the agency called for those units to be divested.
Corporate conductAllegation
Instagram faces allegations over accounts
In a plaintiffs’ brief filed as part of a major lawsuit against four social media companies, Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being Vaishnavi Jayakumar testified that when she joined Meta in 2020 she was shocked to learn that the company had a “17x” strike policy for accounts that reportedly engaged in the “trafficking of humans for sex.”
In a plaintiffs’ brief filed as part of a major lawsuit against four social media companies, Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being Vaishnavi Jayakumar testified that when she joined Meta in 2020 she was shocked to learn that the company had a “17x” strike policy for accounts that reportedly engaged in the “trafficking of humans for sex.”
