LINCOLN — Nebraska and 40 other states announced a barrage of federal and state lawsuits Tuesday against the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The filings allege Meta designed social media platforms it knew were addictive and damaging to teens.

A bipartisan group of state attorneys general from California, New Hampshire, Colorado, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Nebraska discussed a shared goal: They want social media companies to protect and not exploit the mental health of teenagers.

A total of 33 states, including Nebraska, joined the federal lawsuit filed in federal court in northern California. Another seven states and the District of Columbia are filing separate state lawsuits against Meta based on a mix of consumer protection laws. Florida is filing a separate federal lawsuit as well.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said she appreciates that companies seek to make a profit but said some steps Meta took went “beyond what is legal and permissible.”

Of particular note, the federal lawsuit alleges, was Meta’s work to advertise and collect data on children younger than 13 years old, which the cooperating attorneys general said violates a federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Nebraska was one of eight states that started an “industry-wide” investigation in 2021 into how social media companies gathered data and tailored their products to lure and keep young people engaged online, said State Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who took office in January.

“It’s really about dismantling this apparatus that has been built, this machine that’s been built to pull in young people and sort of chew them up and spit them out,” Hilgers said of the legal effort. “Ultimately, we want behavior change.”

Meta was the first company sued as part of this investigation, Hilgers and other attorneys general said, but it is unlikely to be the last. Tennessee has already begun separate legal action against Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said the multistate investigation began with the mutual recognition that teenagers’ mental health is worsening. He and others discussed research showing declines related to increased use of social media.

Skrmetti criticized Meta’s actions on that score, saying, “They have constantly used the data that they have to refine their products and make them more and more difficult to stop using … They made them addictive and targeted them at kids.”

Meta, in a statement to the Associated Press, said it would “work productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use.” It complained about the attorneys general going to court.

The attorneys general, including Rob Bonta in California and Phil Weiser of Colorado, said the state prosecutors decided to file suit, in part because a Meta whistleblower’s documents contradicted Meta’s testimony to Congress on teen safety.

Bonta said: “Not only did they disregard the dangers, they lied to us.” Weiser added: “This is not an action we take lightly.”

The whistleblower’s internal documents and others unearthed since asserted that Meta knew Instagram was addictive and potentially harmful to teen girls. They also asserted that the company tweaked its products to boost teen engagement despite an increased risk of mental health issues.

Academic studies are starting to find evidence of adverse mental health effects from excessive social media use by young people. Those include increasing reports of depression, body image issues, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts and actions.

“We have a youth mental health crisis in the United States of America,” Weiser said. “It’s a challenge made harder because of social media platforms. … Young people were brought down dark rabbit holes. They suffered.”

Hilgers and the other attorneys general said they want social media companies to stop targeting children and provide parents with clearer, more accurate information about the risks of using their social media platforms.

He said he knows as a father that it’s easier to get an account online as a young person than the social media companies want to admit and said he would like to see Meta and others create a more robust system for verifying users’ ages.

Skrmetti, Hilgers and Weiser said social media companies should take notice of the seriousness of the issue because both Republican and Democratic attorneys general came together and agreed on the need for action in a time of deeply polarized politics.

Several state prosecutors compared the social media lawsuits s to the ways states have worked together against tobacco companies and Standard Oil.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella filed a state consumer protection lawsuit against Meta. He said his state “values the pursuit of success and profit.” But he said that must be balanced against “the health and wellness of our kids.”

Said Hilgers: “It’s incumbent on us to protect this generation of kids and the next generation.”

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.