Why Meta's FTC Trial Matters For Keeping Young People Safe Online

In this bylined analysis for Tech Policy Press, Zamaan Qureshi argues that Meta's FTC monopoly trial is a rare opening to force accountability for design choices he associates with harm to teenage users. He writes that roughly six in ten U.S. teens use Instagram, cites disclosures from three Meta whistleblowers, and notes that more than 40 state attorneys general have sued Meta over features they allege are associated with compulsive use among minors. He references an internal 2019 Meta study he says found teens reporting they could not disengage from Instagram even when they wanted to, and argues that a forced separation of Instagram from Meta could restore competitive pressure toward safer product design. TechKids Foundation includes this piece as an example of a youth advocate translating an antitrust proceeding into child-safety terms; the argument and figures are Qureshi's own, not an independent TechKids finding.

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