Tennessee sues Meta over Instagram design causing teen mental health crisis
Tennessee filed a lawsuit against Meta alleging that Instagram was deliberately designed to cause addiction among teenagers and that the company concealed internal research about harms while making misleading public statements. The suit seeks penalties and modifications to platform features deemed harmful to minors' mental health.
What happened
Tennessee's Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit against Meta on 20 July 2026, alleging that Instagram's design was deliberately created to cause uncontrolled use among teenagers and deceived the public about the product's safety.
The suit claims Meta did not disclose extensive internal research showing Instagram could harm teenagers and continued to provide features known to be dangerous without warning users. According to Tennessee, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was repeatedly warned by Meta employees about research showing negative effects on teenagers but refused to fund efforts to mitigate harms and made misleading public statements about the amount of harmful content on the platforms.
The lawsuit focuses on features including autoplay, Instagram Reels videos, notifications, and design that makes content disappear after a certain time. Plaintiffs also alleged Meta violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting data from minors without parental consent.
Reported impact
Tennessee alleges Instagram's design caused a mental health crisis among young people in the state. The lawsuit seeks monetary penalties and a court order requiring Instagram to modify platform features deemed harmful to teenagers' mental health.
Index analysis
Meta stated it had control measures to protect hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Tennessee using social media daily. The company argued that allegations of harm were based on content posted by users on Instagram and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects the company from liability for third-party content.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.