Social media in the spotlight: thousands of lawsuits in the United States
Brussels has taken action against mechanisms that lead to addiction. In Italia, a class action seeking an injunction has been brought to change the way the system operates. The companies’ defence: measures are in place to protect minors and mental health
Damage to the mental health of minors, addiction to algorithms, manipulative design of platforms, liability for mechanisms such as infinite scrolling of content, autoplay and compulsive notifications. The list of cahiers de doléance levelled against the major social media platforms – and contested in thousands of legal actions against the web giants – is a long one. A veritable snowball effect that is spreading from the courts of the United States across the globe. This is also confirmed by the attention paid to the issue by President Ursula von der Leyen, who, whilst presenting the conclusions of the Special Committee on Child Safety Online, announced that the European Commission, after the summer, will put forward a legislative proposal on the minimum age for under-18s to access social media.
The focus is not on individual pieces of content, but on the design of the platforms, which is accused of being engineered to capture users’ attention and create addiction.
In the US
The bulk of the litigation concerns the United States, with figures approaching six thousand cases. According to Reuters, over 3,300 cases have been brought before the state courts of California, whilst a further 2,600 – brought by private citizens, school districts, local authorities and states – are pending before the federal courts in California. Many states have also brought legal actions in their respective state courts.
Last March, in a ruling described as historic, the Los Angeles court found Meta (Instagram and Facebook) and Google (YouTube) to pay six million dollars for causing addiction and psychological harm, such as body dysmorphic disorder, depression and anxiety, to a minor (TikTok and Snapchat had reached a settlement before the trial began). The ruling established for the first time a causal link between the way the algorithms work and endless scrolling.
According to the jury, both Meta and Google knew that the mechanisms designed to maximise user engagement (and thus corporate profits) could cause problems for the most vulnerable individuals, but they did not prevent this from happening. The next trial is due to begin, again in Los Angeles, on 27 July. It has been brought by a 15-year-old from Florida who accuses the social media platforms of damaging his mental health, causing him addiction, sleep deprivation, anxiety and depression. In recent weeks, first Google (YouTube) and then TikTok (ByteDance) have reached a settlement. Barring any further developments, it will therefore be Meta and Snapchat who face the jury at the Los Angeles Superior Court.
