In the lawsuits filed this week, social networking sites are accused of intentionally designing and using addictive psychological strategies to hook young and vulnerable users.

Social media addiction has been a major concern for lawmakers around the world. Although it has its benefits in the age of the internet, it has also been a bane. Children and their youth are very delicate targets in this medium.

According to a new report, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is facing a wave of lawsuits alleging the firm failed to prevent psychological injury to its underage users and exploited them for financial profits. Meta didn't respond right away when asked for a comment.

In the lawsuits filed this week, social networking sites are accused of intentionally designing and using addictive psychological strategies to hook young and vulnerable users. This is despite "extensive insider knowledge" that their products are very bad for the mental health of young people.

Beasley Allen Law, which filed the complaints, said in a statement on Wednesday that these applications "could have been structured to limit any possible harm, but instead, a choice was taken to aggressively addict teens in the service of corporate profits." In spite of knowing that their products and services were hazardous to impressionable children and teenagers, the defendants ignored their own knowledge, according to the lawsuit.

As a result of long-term exposure to the popular sites, the claims argue, young people, are at risk of suicide, self-inflicted wounds, and eating disorders, as well as severe anxiety and despair, and sleep problems.

Each case is around 100 pages long and was filed in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. They claim Meta did not adequately inform kids and their parents of social media's detrimental impacts. Instead, the public heard about these effects last year when a former Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen, disclosed confidential papers to the media. Haugen disclosed an internal study regarding the influence of Instagram on teens, which the Wall Street Journal reported on in September. Reporters misinterpreted Facebook's findings, the social media company claimed in a statement.

Legal actions against Meta have shown how the company's goods are intentionally designed to keep consumers hooked on their platform. According to the claims, when children "like" a post, they feel euphoric, but when they stop using social media, they experience withdrawal symptoms including anxiety and sleeplessness.

The claims say that young people can't resist the pull of the platforms because they can't control their impulses. The lawsuits say, "Meta is also aware of this."

It cannot be justified simply by how social media affects children’s mental well-being and how they are influenced by the various trends they follow, see, and share over time. Be it trending challenges, a social issue, or hate content, parental discretion is very important. Social media companies, on the other hand, should address these issues more thoroughly in how content is moderated among the various age groups. Hate speech, cyberbullying, and harassment are some of the more common rising matters of concern on these platforms.

Earlier in December, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri testified before Congress on the harm Instagram is doing to children and teenagers. The business plans to "rethink what Instagram is," according to Mosseri, towards the end of 2021. Despite Instagram's implementation of parental controls in March, it is not apparent how many parents are making use of them.