What to Know About Social Media Addiction Lawsuits Against Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube
New York Times · LC · trust 51/100
Landmark trials are testing a new legal strategy claiming that Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube caused personal injury through addictive products.
Listen · 4:46 min Share full article The lawsuits are for the first time putting social media companies on the spot for creating harmful products, exposing them to new kinds of liability. Credit... David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Cecilia Kang
On Wednesday, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion to states to settle claims it harmed young users with its addictive platforms.
The settlement was a major capitulation by Meta, which along side YouTube, Snap and TikTok have faced a series of trials this year in which lawyers have accused the companies of designing their platforms for compulsive use, like cigarettes, taking a page from the playbook used against Big Tobacco in the 1990s. And they’ve argued that the companies deceive the public by marketing their products as safe.
Thousands of individuals, school districts and state attorneys general have filed similar lawsuits. The settlement could signal an inflection point for a social media industry that has largely escaped regulatory scrutiny over the harms its products have caused children.
These cases test the argument that social media was built to be addictive, like cigarettes or casino slot machines.
The lawsuits claim that social media features like infinite scrolling, algorithmic recommendations, notifications and videos that play automatically lead to compulsive use. The plaintiffs contend that the resulting addiction has led to problems like depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self-harm, including suicide.
Cases filed by individual plaintiffs tested a novel legal theory, claiming the companies caused personal injury through defective products. The states have cited consumer protection laws and child privacy law violations.
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