More than 30 US states are suing Facebook owner Meta for contributing to a mental health crisis across the country.

Some 33 states including California and Illinois have filed a complaint in an Oakland court, accusing Meta of misleading the public about the substantial dangers of its platforms and saying that the company knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use.

The lawsuit, which seeks remedies including substantial civil penalties, reads: "Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit."

The complaint largely stems from 2021 documents which showed that Meta possessed documents showing that instagram was addictive and worsens body image issues for some teenage girls.

Speaking at a news conference in San Francisco, attorney general Rob Bonta said: “Meta has harnessed its extraordinary innovation and technology to lure youth and teens to maximise use of its products. In seeking to bolster profits, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its products.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Meta, in possession of this knowledge, deceptively denied the harm of its social media publicly and that the company works to ensure that young people spend as much time on the app as possible.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for Meta said: "We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path.”

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