Florida’s attorney general is suing Meta in federal court, alleging that its social media platforms, including Instagram, purposefully get children and teens hooked on their online features in a way that threatens children’s mental health. 

Ashley Moody took the legal action Oct. 24 in federal court in the Tampa region. The lawsuit against Meta, formerly Facebook, parallels other litigation taken by attorneys general in other states.

“Far from being a safe place, (the) defendants’ platforms cause serious harm to children, parents and the community at large by deploying algorithms and other features designed to hijack the attention of its users, barrage them with advertisements and relentlessly mine their interactions for monetizable data,” the lawsuit states. “These features designed to maximize user engagement are particularly harmful to young users.”