Social media company Meta target of mental illness lawsuit

Social media and mental health: Who’s affected?

A federal judge has ruled that complainants against major social media companies can proceed with lawsuits charging the companies of illegally enticing and then addicting millions of children and teens to their platforms, damaging their mental health.

The companies argued that children should be excluded from hundreds of lawsuits, but U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez stated that the companies did not address why they should not be held liable for defective parental controls, not helping users limit screen time and creating barriers to those who tried to deactivate accounts, according to Reuters.

Heavy use of the most popular social media platforms — Facebook and Instagram among them — has been linked to detrimental mental health effects including behaviors such as self-harm, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide and suicide, and eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.

Recently, powerful internet giant, Meta Platform, Inc., the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has come under fire for putting profits ahead of its users’ mental health and well-being.

Meta-Facebook and Instagram, as well as several other top social media platforms, have been accused of creating a toxic environment for young users, enticing them to use the sites more at the cost of their mental health and sometimes even their lives.

Young adults and teens, particularly women and girls, who use Facebook, Instagram, and other major social media sites, reported to company researchers in 2019 that they felt bad about themselves after using the platforms. Researchers told the companies about the mental health problems affecting the rapidly growing teen base of a popular photo-sharing site at the time, but the reports were minimized, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In 2021, a former employee of the largest social media platform Facebook, Frances Haugen, blew the whistle on the company’s troubling practices, providing documents to regulators and law enforcement and also appearing on 60 Minutes to detail concerns about how social media platforms keep users engaged.

Now, social media companies face mounting evidence that they eschewed safety precautions for young users in the name of increased time spent on their platforms to generate profit from advertising on their sites.

Studies show that more than 90% of Americans use social media. Social media use allows people to connect with others and entertain themselves, but research has shown that endless scrolling takes a toll on users’ mental health.

The U.S. government has noted its concerns about the effect of these platforms on young users, and school districts have joined suits on behalf of their students.

“Business models are often built around maximizing user engagement as opposed to safeguarding users’ health and ensuring that users engage with one another in safe and healthy ways,” states a 2021 report by the US Surgeon General on Youth Mental Health. The report goes on to explain: “This translates to technology companies focusing on maximizing time spent, not time well spent.”

Social media platforms are powerful tools that allow individuals to connect almost immediately with others, including relatives, friends and even celebrities. But heavy use of social media has been linked to negative effects on mental health, warns MedicalNewsToday.

According to research conducted between 2015 and 2020, heavy use of social media (up to nine hours a day as reported by some users), can trigger senses of isolation, depression and anxiety. Research has found that, rather than making users feel more connected, social media use can actually distance them from friends and family. Users report feelings of missing out and a compulsion to check their social media feeds at the cost of in-person relationships.

Teen users of social media have reported high rates of cyberbullying, up to 50% according to one study. These platforms can amplify toxic patterns, spreading abuse or destructive rumors far beyond someone’s immediate social circle, potentially leading to lasting harm.

Further, social media users, particularly young women and teen girls, report feeling worse about their bodies after viewing photo-sharing apps. Hours of viewing the highly edited and virtually impossible-to-obtain bodies of influencers may trigger eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation and other mental health issues for users.

In fact, each year more teens report having seriously considered suicide according to numerous studies.

While individuals and parents can take steps to limit social media use, the companies that run these powerful platforms designed and implemented special products and features to increase viewing time and shares. Further, they continued to deploy the products even when they were allegedly aware of the harm it was causing young users.

Teens have reported to these companies that they have felt “addicted” to photo-sharing and other social media apps, disliking the amount of time they spend on them but unable to stop. In the face of these mounting reports, instead of dismantling their products and features, or even warning users of them, social media companies allegedly allowed algorithms to continue “learning” their users and foisting harmful content on vulnerable teens, all in an effort to increase the time they spend on the platforms.

If you or your loved one suffered a mental health condition from social media use, you may qualify to participate in a lawsuit investigation.

Fill out the form on this page to see if you qualify for a FREE case evaluation.