Arkansas A.G. Sues Google, YouTube for Targeting Kids Online

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On Monday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced his office is suing YouTube and its parent companies Google and Alphabet for deceptively targeting children in Arkansas.

In a statement, the attorney general said,

“YouTube has deceived users and parents about the safety of its platforms for youth. YouTube has profited substantially off young Arkansans because it deliberately designed its platform to be addictive by using features to keep users engaged for as long as possible.

“Google has deliberately designed and marketed YouTube to exploit and addict young users, contributing to a mental health crisis in Arkansas. The majority of children aged 13 to 17 report using YouTube every day.

“One of the gravest public health threats to children in the United States today is the soaring rate of mental and behavioral health disorders, including depression, self-harm, body dysmorphia, and increased suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide. This increase in mental health problems among children is the result of calculated efforts by social-media companies like YouTube to attract and addict youth to their platforms and to grow revenues without regard for the harmful effects that these companies know exist.”

Attorney General Griffin’s office has filed multiple lawsuits against tech companies for violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act — most notably Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

The A.G.’s lawsuits against TikTok allege the social media giant aggressively collects sensitive user data and that TikTok failed to fully disclose that the company is subject to Chinese laws that mandate cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China.

The A.G.’s lawsuit against Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — argues the company structured its social media platforms “to exploit multiple neuropsychological traits in youth.” It notes that Facebook and Instagram are built around algorithms intentionally designed “to exploit human psychology and foster addiction to maximize users’ screen time.”

As we have written many, many times, social media platforms are not just websites or phone apps. This is a multibillion industry, and the adults who control these companies have a responsibility to ensure their platforms do not harm or exploit children. It’s good to see Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin continuing to hold tech companies accountable.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Marijuana Amendment Fails to Qualify for November Ballot for Now

Marijuana,

The following is a press release from Family Council Action Committee.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 30, 2024

On Monday Secretary of State John Thurston’s office announced that the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 failed to qualify for the November ballot.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox issued a statement, saying, “This is a good decision, but it’s not the final decision. Every effort to amend the state’s most important governing document, our constitution, must go through a rigorous and thorough process. The bar should be high, and any effort that doesn’t meet it shouldn’t make the ballot. Secretary of State Thurston made the right call.”

Cox went on to say, “This marijuana amendment is a fatally flawed effort to bring recreational marijuana to Arkansas. It would make more than 30 changes to Arkansas’ constitution. This amendment would give a handful of businesses a monopoly over an unregulated marijuana industry, and it would remove important restrictions that protect children from marijuana marketing. A measure this bad simply has no business being on the ballot.”

Cox said Family Council Action Committee will continue opposing the amendment in case the Arkansas Supreme Court decides to put the measure back on the ballot. “The final decision over this measure will rest with the state supreme court. Big businesses have spent nearly two million dollars working to place this marijuana amendment on the ballot. We expect them to ask the Arkansas Supreme Court to overrule the Secretary of State’s decision. We plan to continue fighting Issue 3 in case the court decides to place it back on the ballot.”

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