{"id":24912,"date":"2026-04-10T16:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=865402"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:50:24","slug":"iowa-ag-sues-meta-over-alleged-deceptive-practices-on-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/iowa-ag-sues-meta-over-alleged-deceptive-practices-on-instagram\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa AG Sues Meta Over Alleged Deceptive Practices on Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-lawsuits-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/midwest\/2026\/04\/10\/865402.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/midwest\/2026\/04\/10\/865402.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced she has filed a lawsuit against Meta and several of its subsidiaries, including Instagram and Facebook, for breaking Iowa\u2019s consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n<p>The Attorney General\u2019s Office alleges Instagram represents itself as being safe for Iowa\u2019s children and teenagers, yet there is explicit content readily available. The state also asserts that Meta designed Instagram to be addictive, particularly to Iowa youth, and that this addiction harms Iowa children by substantially affecting their health.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"lawsuits\" data-revive-companies=\"instagram\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>In addition to Instagram\u2019s addictive nature and design, Instagram tells consumers that it contains only \u201cinfrequent\u201d or \u201cmild\u201d content related to things like drug use, sexual content or nudity, and other mature themes, leading Instagram to rate itself as 12+, 13+ or T for Teen (i.e., suitable for teens 17 and under). However, the lawsuit asserts Instagram allows rampant \u201csexual content and nudity, alcohol, tobacco, and drug use and references, and mature\/suggestive themes on the Instagram platform, including readily accessible hardcore pornography.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The platform has also been found in third-party investigations to promote or allow child pornography, sexual extortion of teenagers, and open dealing of opioids and other drugs.<\/p>\n<p>The Attorney General\u2019s lawsuit seeks a preliminary and a permanent injunction to force Instagram to change or stop altogether its deceptive and unfair statements about the frequency and severity of drug and alcohol content, sexual content, nudity, mature\/suggestive themes, and profanity on the Instagram platform; its inaccurate age-ratings in the App Store and other online marketplaces; and its deceptive public assurances in the Instagram Community Guidelines and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit was filed in Polk County District Court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/lawsuits\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Lawsuits<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"865402\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! 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Please tell us what you liked about it.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-more-articles\">\n<p class=\"thank-you-text\">Here are more articles you may enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscribe-banner subscribe-banner-in-content-2\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h4>Interested in <em>Lawsuits<\/em>?<\/h4>\n<p>Get automatic alerts for this topic.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 0 Comments Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced she has filed a lawsuit against Meta and several of its subsidiaries, including Instagram and Facebook, for breaking Iowa\u2019s consumer protection laws. The Attorney General\u2019s&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[11,535,13,1],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/iowa-ag-sues-meta-over-alleged-deceptive-practices-on-instagram.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}