Almost all of these cases—filed on behalf of plaintiffs ranging from school districts and state attorneys general to thousands of ordinary families—raise allegations that social media companies, much like the tobacco industry, designed and released products they knew could harm children and other vulnerable users.
TikTok has reportedly reached a last-minute agreement to settle a lawsuit claiming that it, along with other social media companies, regularly and repeatedly introduced product features designed to “hook” and “addict” children.
According to The New York Times, the lawsuit was scheduled to proceed to trial in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles County. On Tuesday, jury selection began for what would have been the first in a series of similar lawsuits targeting social media companies including TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and Snap.
Almost all of these cases—filed on behalf of plaintiffs ranging from school districts and state attorneys general to thousands of ordinary families—raise allegations that social media companies, much like the tobacco industry, designed and released products they knew could harm children and other vulnerable users.
Both TikTok and Snap have since submitted offers of settlement in the first case slated for trial, leaving Meta and YouTube as the sole remaining defendants. The case, notes The New York Times, involves a 20-year-old California woman identified by the initials K.G.M. In court documents, K.G.M. said that she became “addicted” to social media as a child and experienced anxiety, depression, and body-image issues as a direct result.
Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is expected to testify if that company’s case moves to trial; so is YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney for K.G.M., told the BBC that the remaining claims will mark the first time that social media companies have truly been held to account before a jury.
“Unfortunately, there are all too many kids in the United States, the UK, and around the world who are suffering as K.G.M. does because of the dangerous and addictive algorithms that the social media platforms foist on unsuspecting kids,” Bergman told the BBC. “These companies are going to have to explain to a jury why their profits were more important than the lives of our young people.”
Bergman conceded, however, that it may be difficult for the plaintiffs to prove that their physical injuries can be directly attributed to social media companies.
“The fact that the plaintiffs have been able to sell that idea has opened the door to a whole bunch of new legal questions that the law wasn’t really designed to answer,” he said.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, had previously accused the lawsuit of “cherry-picking” statements from social media executives, using them to “oversimplify” the issue of social media addiction.
“Clinicians and researchers find that mental health is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue, and tends regarding teens’ well-being aren’t clear-cut or universal,” Meta said in a blog post.
Sources
Social Media Giants Face Landmark Legal Tests on Child Safety
TikTok Settles Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Ahead of a Landmark Trial
TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin
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