SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 24, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Gov. Spencer J. Cox has announced state leaders’ intention to file lawsuits against social media companies with the aim of making them more accountable for the potential harm caused to juvenile users.
Cox and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes spoke Monday in general terms about studies they say show the harm done to young users, especially females, whose self-esteem is damaged when they see negative comments about themselves from peers.
Cox also noted that content can make everyone feel worse about themselves when they compare their life circumstances depicted, unrealistically, on social media.
But least able to understand and cope with discrepancies are the young, Cox and Reyes said.
“I think it is an absolute necessity that we are actually able to prevent young people from accessing social media,” Reyes said. “And then, once they’re able to do that, that it is age-appropriate material that is in front of them.”
Cox said social media companies are businesses designed to become addictive.
“Look guys,” he said to reporters and officials at the news conference, “it’s very telling when the very people building these apps refuse to let their kids have them. That should tell you everything you need to know about how dangerous these are.
“They are designed intentionally to make sure that you never put them down. They figured out how. This is very intentional. They teach these classes at Stanford and other places, how to use technology to hack our brains and get us addicted to this technology. It is especially dangerous to our youth. Again we see the data that our youth, especially young women going through puberty. That’s the worst possible time.”
Cox said even parents doing all they can to protect their children face a losing battle.
“We hear it over and over and over again that it’s happening to their kids. It’s happening to all of us, and it’s going to take this type of collective action. We’ve gone through this with opioids, we’ve gone through this with tobacco. Once we learn and realize what’s happening, we do better.”
Cox said social media companies “knew how bad it was before we did, and there’s been evidence of that out in the public. They’re not disclosing anything.”
“Somebody needs to be held accountable to that. And until we start holding them accountable, they’re not going to change it. They’re making far too much money off of it. And so we have to change that, and this is one way that we can do it.”
Cox and Reyes said they were not going to name the specific social media companies their intended lawsuits will target.
Reyes also noted some social media companies have helped Utah agencies, noting the fact that some companies have helped with information that has allowed police to recover abducted children.
“We’re not here to say that these companies are inherently bad or evil. They do good things for our society,” he said.
“But all of the good that they do does not excuse the fact that they’re not doing enough. And that’s what our frustration is. The litigation will not cut off our communications with them. We hope that it only fosters even better, more robust and more highly prioritized, more intense communications, if that makes sense.”
The State of Utah plans to hire outside attorneys to pursue the case or cases, the men said, adding that state-employed attorneys are already busy with their regular workloads.
Cox said the process of finding attorneys to take on the case or cases could take a month or more, so more details would be forthcoming at a future date.
The following news conference video clip is set up to begin after a multi-minute delay to address microphone problems. The delay happened at the beginning of the news conference.
