ATLANTA – Georgia has joined a bipartisan coalition of 33 states in filing a federal lawsuit accusing social media giant Meta of knowingly designing and deploying harmful features on its platforms that addict children and teens.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Meta knew of the harmful impact of platforms including Facebook and Instagram on young people and falsely assured the public these features were safe and suitable for young users.
“We have become increasingly concerned with Meta possibly marketing to children despite knowing the risks posed to their mental health and wellbeing,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Tuesday. “We will not allow our state’s youngest children to be the targets of deceptive social media tactics, and we’re working diligently to address this dangerous and alarming trend.”
The lawsuit alleges that Meta’s business practices violate state consumer protection laws and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The attorneys general claim these practices have fueled what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called a “youth mental health crisis” that has ended lives and damaged families.
Based on testimony from former Meta employees, the complaint claims the platforms’ algorithms push users into going down “rabbit holes” to maximize engagement to the point they don’t get enough sleep.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive and monetary relief to rectify the harms done by the platforms.
Meta released a statement Tuesday expressing disappointment in the states for taking them to court.
“We share the attorneys generals’ commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families,” the company wrote. “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.”
Nearly all the attorneys general joining in the suit have worked together since 2021 to investigate Meta. The group also is looking into conduct by social media platform TikTok based on similar concerns.
Eight states that did not sign onto the federal lawsuit have filed parallel complaints listing similar allegations.
ATLANTA – A fourth defendant in Fulton County’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump on charges of interfering in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Lawyer Jenna Ellis, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writing, a felony, for her role in making false allegations of election fraud during a Dec. 3, 2020, hearing before a state Senate subcommittee.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was serving as Trump’s personal lawyer at that time, was the lead witness at that hearing. He leveled allegations of election fraud in Georgia that turned out to be false and urged senators to appoint a slate of electors who would cast Georgia’s 16 electoral votes for Trump rather than Democrat Joe Biden, who in reality had carried the Peach State in the November election.
In a statement before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee Tuesday, a tearful Ellis said she relied on other lawyers’ assertions of election fraud without exercising “due diligence” as to whether they were true or false.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” she said.
Under the plea agreement, Ellis will serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 in restitution, perform 100 hours of community service, write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, and testify truthfully at future hearings and trials.
Similar provisions were included in the guilty plea former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro entered last Friday. Another former Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell, pleaded guilty last Thursday. Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall entered a guilty plea last month.
The four are among 19 defendants – including Trump and Giuliani – a Fulton grand jury indicted in August under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a state law prohibiting most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy may remain in effect.
The General Assembly’s Republican majorities passed the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act in 2019 banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, with exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergencies.
But federal courts blocked the law from taking effect until late last year, when the state Supreme Court reimposed the ban pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the law filed by the reproductive rights group Sistersong.
The plaintiffs, other pro-choice groups, and legislative Democrats argued the Georgia law should be declared unconstitutional because when it was enacted in 2019, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case protecting women’s right to abortion remained the law of the land.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney agreed and ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor last November, only to be quickly overturned when the state Supreme Court temporary reimposed the ban.
On Tuesday, a majority of the justices sided with the state’s argument that the abortion ban should stay in effect because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year in the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade and removed the constitutional right to abortion.
“When the United States Supreme Court overrules its own precedent interpreting the United States Constitution, we are then obligated to apply the court’s new interpretation of the constitution’s meaning on matters of federal constitutional law,” Justice Verda M. Colvin, wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice John J. Ellington agreed with the lower-court ruling that the Georgia law should not be allowed to stay in effect because last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion was not the law of the land when Georgia lawmakers passed the LIFE Act four years ago.
An act “cannot spring to life because of any subsequent change in the law,” he wrote.
Ellington went on to write that the six-week abortion ban should be allowed only if the General Assembly revisits the issue and re-enacts the law.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed the LIFE Act into law in 2019, applauded Tuesday’s ruling.
“Today’s victory represents one more step towards ending this litigation and ensuring the lives of Georgians at all ages are protected,” Kemp said.
Sistersong Executive Director Monica Simpson called the decision “devastating.”
“This abortion ban has forced Georgians to travel across state lines at great expense or continue the life-altering consequences of pregnancy and childbirth against their wills,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, who also serves as chairperson of the Georgia Democratic Party, said Democrats will make Tuesday’s ruling an issue in next year’s election campaigns.
“Come 2024, we’ll fight to keep anti-abortion extremists out of both the White House and the statehouse and work to codify protections for reproductive freedom into federal law,” she said. “Today’s ruling is a blow to Georgians and to reproductive freedom, but the fight continues.”
ATLANTA – A vehicle emissions inspector from Gwinnett County has pleaded guilty to performing thousands of fraudulent emissions tests.
Mehboobhusain Malik, 72, of Lilburn pleaded guilty to one court of violating the federal Clean Air Act.
According to information presented in federal court, Malik attached a simulator to the emissions testing system he was using to falsify test results for vehicles that could not pass the emissions test. He performed thousands of fraudulent emissions tests at multiple testing location across metro Atlanta.
“The Georgia emissions program exists to protect our community’s air quality,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan. “With his guilty plea, Malik admits that he essentially sold his position as a licensed emissions inspector by issuing false emissions certificates for cars that should have failed the test.”
“This case demonstrates how local, state, and federal agencies work together to uphold and enforce laws designed to protect human health and the air that we breathe,” added Sara Lips, spokesperson for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).
Malik is scheduled to be sentenced in January. The case was investigated by the EPD and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division.
ATLANTA – Another company expected to serve as a supplier to the massive Hyundai Motor Group electric vehicles manufacturing plant under construction west of Savannah has announced plans to build a facility nearby.
Daechang Seat Corp. USA, (DSC) which specializes in automotive seat frames, will invest $72.5 million at the Savannah Chatham Manufacturing Center, creating more than 500 jobs.
“Today’s news … is just the latest reminder of the impact projects like the Hyundai Metaplant have beyond their initial investment,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday. “To date, suppliers for this project alone reach at lest nine counties.”
Daechang Seat Corp., established in 1979 in South Korea, has become one of the largest seat frame producers in the world. The company employs more than 6,000 people in seven countries.
Daechang will be hiring assembly operators, equipment technicians, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers through local job fairs and website postings.
“Our primary objective is to drive the growth of DSC through facility expansions, ultimately transforming DSC into a global entity,” said Jinsuk Lee, CEO of Daechang Seat Savannah Corp. “Presently, DSC holds a prominent partnership with Hyundai … and we hope to collaborate with even more projects in the future.”
The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked in partnership on the project with the Savannah Economic Development Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, Georgia Power, and the Technical College System of Georgia’s Quick Start program.
