By Bonnie Culverhouse

City of Minden officials have agreed to join other governmental entities across the country in filing a lawsuit against social media companies in an effort to protect community youth.

City attorney Jimbo Yocom explained the class action suit through Beasley Allen Law Firm of Montgomery, Ala. executes a contingency fee agreement and will not cost the City.

“Social media is taking information from private citizens, including under the age 18 for marketing targeting,” Yocom explained. “They sell the information to marketing companies.”

Yocom said these companies have been known to use entities such as City of Minden’s account to track personal information of followers.

The lawsuit specifically names Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube/Google. It claims these companies have targeted youth through “inadequate age verification measures, insufficient parental controls, endless scrolling and notifications, and targeted algorithms designed to addict teen and adolescent users.”

Vote by Minden City Council was unanimous.

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