Montana Missing From Major List That Has to Do With Social Media

Social media has been under public scrutiny for a long time and now, multiple outlets are reporting that Meta is being sued by attorneys general across the country. The federal lawsuit focuses on the dangers to children and teens, particularly as CNN.com reports, the '"addictive" features are harming teens' mental health."

CNBC.com also points out in their reporting that an interesting aspect of the lawsuit is the widespread bipartisan support.

A total of 42 attorney generals are participating in the lawsuit, but Montana's attorney general is not one of them.

You can see in the court document at this link that Montana is not one of the 33 states that filed in California and it's not one of the states individually suing Meta, according to The Pathway.

Given the bipartisan support and the number of states participating in the lawsuit, it may seem surprising that Montana isn't part of the lawsuit especially because Montana was the first state to introduce a TikTok ban, a lawsuit that was in federal court in October.

Montana and Social Media

In June, the Chris and Ashley Show had the opportunity to interview Governor Greg Gianforte about the TikTok ban. When asked why Montana was leading the way, he noted the need to maintain privacy and protect information from a "foreign adversary." When asked about other social media platforms, the Governor explained, "Facebook is not owned by a foreign adversary and I have concerns about the data that they collect but it didn't rise to the level of a foreign adversary surveilling the people of Montana."

While our conversation with the Governor focused on privacy rather than the effects of social media on mental health, it would seem that there are multiple social media-related issues that could affect Montanans.