A federal judge in California said on Tuesday that Facebook parent company Meta must respond to complaints from US states alleging it is contributing to teen mental health issues by making its Facebook and Instagram services addicting.
TakeAway Points:
- A federal judge in California said that Facebook parent firm Meta must respond to claims from US states alleging it makes its Instagram and Facebook platforms addictive, which in turn fuels mental health issues among teenagers.
- U.S. District Judge rejected Meta’s bid to toss the claims made by the states in two separate lawsuits filed last year, one involving more than 30 states, including California and New York and the other brought by Florida.
- The ruling clears the way for states and other plaintiffs to seek more evidence and potentially go to trial.
Teen social media addiction lawsuit
Oakland-based U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Meta’s bid to toss the claims made by the states in two separate lawsuits filed last year, one involving more than 30 states including California and New York and the other brought by Florida.
According to the report, Rogers put some limits on the states’ claims, agreeing with Meta that a federal law known as Section 230 regulating online platforms partly shielded the company. However, she found that the states had put forward enough detail about allegedly misleading statements made by the company to go forward with most of their case.
The judge also rejected motions by Meta, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Google parent Alphabet’s
YouTube and Snap’s SnapChat to dismiss related personal injury lawsuits by individual plaintiffs. The other companies are not defendants to the states’ lawsuits.
Reactions concerning the matter
The report states that the ruling clears the way for states and other plaintiffs to seek more evidence and potentially go to trial. It is not a final ruling on the merits of their cases.
“Meta needs to be held accountable for the very real harm it has inflicted on children here in California and across the country,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.
Lawyers for the personal injury plaintiffs in a joint statement called the ruling “a significant victory for young people nationwide who have been negatively impacted by addictive and harmful social media platforms.”
A Meta spokesperson says that the company disagreed with the ruling overall and that it had “developed numerous tools to support parents and teens,” including new “Teen Accounts” on Instagram with added protections.
A Google spokesperson called the allegations “simply not true” and said, “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”
Meanwhile, the other social media companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to the report, the states are seeking court orders against Meta’s allegedly illegal business practices and are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by various plaintiffs accusing the social media companies of designing addictive algorithms that lead to anxiety, depression, and body-image issues among adolescents and failing to warn of their risks.