The Facebook Parent Company, Meta Inc., was facing accusations from the U.S. states for fueling mental health problems among teens with social media addiction. Now, a federal judge with 34 attorneys general in California has ruled that Meta must face lawsuits from the U.S. states.
Oakland-based U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who issued the ruling, placed some limits on the state’s claims, agreeing with Meta that Section 230 regulating online platforms shielded the company. However, she found that states shared enough evidence to proceed with their cases.
The judge also rejected proposals from YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and Meta that have introduced game-changing AI enhancements to set aside personal injury lawsuits related to addiction. However, the U.S. states are specifically accusing Meta for lawsuits.
A California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, stated, “Meta needs to be held accountable for the very real harm it has inflicted on children here in California and across the country.” On the other hand, lawyers of personal injury plaintiffs called this ruling “a significant victory for young people nationwide who have been negatively impacted by addictive and harmful social media platforms.”
A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the ruling and it had “developed numerous tools to support parents and teens” alongside the new “Teen Accounts” feature on Instagram.
In defence of the allegations, a Google spokesperson shared that the allegations aren’t true. They said, “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.” Meanwhile, other social media companies didn’t share any comments.
The ruling of Tuesday has cleared the way for states and other plaintiffs to collect more evidence and go for a trial. However, it is not the final ruling on their cases. Till now, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by various plaintiffs against social media companies for developing addictive algorithms that lead to problems like depression in teens.
