This is an opinion column.
Something bad is happening to our kids. Something awful enough that somebody really ought to sue over it.
But where is Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall? Once again, he’s looking in the wrong place — or rather, looking out for his political interests, not Alabama interests.
But before we get to Marshall and where his attention has wandered, let’s look at the right place.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported something social scientists have been ringing alarm bells over for some time: Depression, loneliness, self-harm and suicide have risen among teens, especially among teenage girls — a distinct increase researchers have traced back to 2012. Those same researchers have blamed the rise on smartphones and social media, and one platform in particular — Instagram.
But what’s new in the Journal’s story is that Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, knew about these effects. For the last three years, the Journal reported, the company has conducted its own research and secretly come to the same conclusions, even as it denied them publicly.
Facebook internal documents obtained by the Journal showed that nearly a third of teenage girls said Instagram made them more ashamed of their bodies. Some said it caused them to consider suicide.
Again, Facebook knew this, but as recently as May, the company has downplayed the effects it has on adolescents, calling them “small.” In a statement following the Journal’s story, the company said the Journal “focuses on a limited set of findings and casts them in a negative light.”
In short, the company said one thing internally, and something completely different to the rest of the world — a degree of duplicity not seen since tobacco companies said that Joe Camel ads weren’t targeted at kids.
In a decent world, where responsible adults run things, Facebook executives would ask, “How do we put a stop to this?”
But in this world, Facebook executives apparently asked, “How can we do Instagram — but for little kids?”
Instead of adding new age restrictions to Instagram or building social incentives safe for mental health, Facebook began development of a new version of Instagram — one made for even younger, more vulnerable children.
It’s not hard to come up with words for such behavior — indecent, sociopathic, reckless, vile … It’s harder to know where to stop.
Earlier this year, a group of state attorney generals had words for Facebook, too.
In a letter written in May, 44 attorneys general cited the pile of public research showing Instagram is bad for kids, and they told the company it should abandon its new Instagram-for-kids project.
“Facebook has historically failed to protect the welfare of children on its platforms,” the National Association of Attorneys General wrote in the letter. “The attorneys general have an interest in protecting our youngest citizens, and Facebook’s plans to create a platform where kids under the age of 13 are encouraged to share content online is contrary to that interest.”
That’s a good start. At least they’re putting their attention in the right place.
Unfortunately, Alabama’s attorney general isn’t one of them.
Two weeks before those other AGs signed their names to that letter, Marshall withdrew from the National Association of Attorneys General. The organization, he said, had moved too far to the left.
Marshall said his annual dues, paid for by the state, could be better spent on consumer protection, which would be fine, except for what happened next.
Last month, Marshall took aim at the social media giants, too. Only his interest isn’t the detrimental effects on children and teens, but on political censorship.
“Big Tech is not the Ministry of Truth,” Marshall said in a press release.
Let’s be clear. The First Amendment protects against government interference in speech. There is no constitutional protection against being barred by a private company from publishing something on a company’s website that violates its user agreement.
Marshall is smart enough to know this. But leveling with angry conspiracy theorists and aggrieved anti-vaxxers doesn’t sell well in Alabama, so he’s using state resources to indulge their fantasies, instead.
Last month, Marshall’s office created a website where the public can file complaints against the tech giants. It’s unclear what Marshall intends to do with those complaints once he has them. Legal experts have said he can’t do much.
But that’s not his point.
Marshall isn’t really fighting for Alabamians with his online complaint box any more than he’s saving money by ditching his national peers.
Being effective means less to Marshall than being popular. Alabama’s attorney general cares less about what he does for Alabama than how he looks to voters.
It’s strained and phony. It’s superficial. It’s all for show.
It would be perfect for Instagram.
Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group, 2020 winner of the Walker Stone Award, winner of the 2021 SPJ award for opinion writing, and 2021 winner of the Molly Ivins prize for political commentary.
You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.
More columns by Kyle Whitmire
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