Government pushes for accountability from internet intermediaries as Meta faces legal action in the US

The government wants to make all internet intermediaries, including social media platforms, more accountable for the harm that is caused by their content to the users, especially children, the minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

The minister of state was reacting to reports of Meta being sued by nearly 40 states in the US for knowingly using addictive features to keep children and young adults hooked on their platforms such as Facebook and Meta, even as these services had adverse impacts on the children.

Talking to a news channel, Chandrasekhar said that the days of free pass and immunity to the social media intermediaries for the content that is hosted on their platforms was over.


“There ought to be a greater deeper discussion on the harmful effects of tech in general and the harmful content on the internet in particular. That debate, especially through the prism of protecting our children, their growth, and evolution into well-rounded adults is something we ought to think about,” Chandrasekhar told the television news channel.

In a statement, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta said that a bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against Meta for designing and deploying “harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children and teens to their mental and physical detriment”.

“With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight. I am grateful for the collaboration of my fellow state attorneys general in standing up for our children and holding Meta accountable,” Bonta said in his statement.

The 33 states have, in their lawsuit, also alleged that Meta violated federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), California's False Advertising Law (FAL), and California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL).