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A bipartisan group of attorneys general said Thursday they are investigating the company Meta, formerly known as Facebook, for promoting its social media app. Instagram knowing the mental and emotional harm caused by the service.

At least nine states are participating in the investigation, including California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Vermont.

Maura Healey, Massachusetts Attorney General and one of the leaders of the investigation, said states are examining whether the company’s actions violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk.

“Facebook, now Meta, has failed to protect youth on its platforms and has instead chosen to ignore, or in some cases double down on, known manipulations that pose a real threat to physical and mental health – exploiting children for profit,” Ms Healey said.

The move comes after a series of documents from a former employee’s detailed investigation within a social media company suggested that teenagers had body image issues while using it. Instagram. documents, called Facebook PapersIt was shared with journalists in October. The Wall Street Journal first documents and Problems on Instagram with the help of informant Frances Haugen.

Doug Peterson, Nebraska Attorney General and another leader of the investigation, said states will examine “the techniques used by Meta to increase the frequency and duration of engagement of young users and the harms caused by such prolonged engagement.”

“When social media platforms treat our children as mere commodities to manipulate for longer screen time interaction and data extraction, it becomes imperative for state attorneys to engage our investigative powers under our consumer protection laws,” Peterson said in a tweet.

The states’ investigation adds to regulatory pressure on Meta and Silicon Valley’s other giants.

Ms. Haugen and public interest groups have filed at least nine complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that Meta misled investors about its efforts to protect users from disinformation and hate. The Federal Trade Commission and dozens of states have filed antitrust lawsuits to break up Meta, and members of Congress have pledged to create privacy, speech, and antitrust laws aimed at curbing the power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Spanning tens of thousands of pages and gigabytes of data, Facebook Papers Showcase a company struggling to deal with a multitude of issues that emerged as a byproduct of its enormous scale and billions of users, including misinformation, addiction, and manipulation of users around the world. Much of the information came in the form of detailed reports investigating issues raised by the company’s research division.

Meta said its research efforts are aimed at addressing the issues they have identified, with the aim of improving the company’s products and services.

The documents detail what roughly a third of teenage girls said in a survey who already felt bad about their bodies. Instagram made them feel worse. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women see and describe themselves,” the documents said.

Meta disputed the characterization of the early news stories about Instagram’s problems, saying the story lacked context, left out vital information, and was a bad interpretation of the data obtained by The Journal. The company argued that 11 out of 12 health issues of teenage girls surveyed said Instagram made them feel “better and not worse.”

“It’s absolutely not true that this research shows that Instagram is ‘toxic’ for teenage girls,” said Pratiti Raychoudhury, vice president and head of research at Facebook at one company. blog post in September.

In a statement Thursday, the Meta representative strongly contested state attorneys’ allegations against Instagram.

“These accusations are false and show a deep misunderstanding of the facts,” said company spokesperson Liza Crenshaw. “As the challenges of protecting youth online impact the entire industry, we have led the industry in tackling bullying and supporting people struggling with suicidal thoughts, self-harm and eating disorders.”

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.