A ruling against Meta comes from US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland who rejected the company’s bid to throw out claims from two lawsuits filed late last year. One of them involved over 30 states, including California and New York and another was brought by Florida. The lawsuit contains details of how Meta is harming the mental health of teens by promoting social media addiction.
Judge Rogers acknowledged that, even though section 230 of a federal statute partially protects online platforms, the states have given sufficient details about allegedly false statements by Meta, making it possible to pursue most claims.
This is one of the most important decisions by Rogers as it allows the states and the individual plaintiffs to take more evidence against Meta, bringing the case to a trial.
"Meta must be held accountable for the very real harm it has inflicted on children here in California and across the country," declared California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
In addition, the judge dismissed motions from similar social media platforms including TikTok, YouTube (a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. [GOOGL.O]), and Snapchat (SNAP.N). The motions were denied as these media giants are not parties to the states' suits, but have similar claims for personal injuries brought by individuals. This in layman's terms means that these companies have also been sued by individuals for personal harm due to their wrongful practices.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs with personal injury claims welcomed the ruling as "a huge win for young people across the country" who have been affected by addictive social media apps.
Discussing the verdict, a Meta spokesperson said that they disagreed, claiming that the company has been striving hard to ensure online safety for teens.
"We have created a wide range of tools to help parents and teens," they said in an interview. Further noting that "Teen Accounts" on Instagram were launched with additional safety features.
On the other hand, a Google representative denied the claims, labeling them "simply not true." According to the company, it continues to work towards ensuring that its platform provides its young users with a much safer and healthier environment.
This is not the first rodeo for Google, the tech giant was under fire earlier this year for stifling competition. Alphabet, Inc. was ultimately sued by the EU for violating antitrust laws. However, Google won the challenge against the UK watchdog for the 1.49 billion Euro, or US$1.7 billion, European Union antitrust fine. Read more
States are looking to use injunctions to stop Meta's allegedly unlawful business practices as well as unspecified monetary damages. The suit is part of a bigger trend of charging social media companies, for creating addictive algorithms that feed adolescent anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia, as well as failure to adequately warn of these risks.
The litigation raises great debate about the responsibilities that tech giants may carry toward the mental health of young users.