Lawsuit against Meta over social media addiction dropped
One of the major lawsuits filed against Meta in the US regarding the negative impact of social media on human mental health and the creation of addiction has come to an unexpected end. The plaintiff decided to withdraw the claim without receiving any compensation. This event is being assessed as a significant victory for tech giants, as this case was expected to serve as a precedent for many other similar claims in the industry. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports.
In this case, which was scheduled to be heard in the California Superior Court, a teenager from Florida (identified by the initials R.K.C.) accused platforms like Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Snap of consciously fostering addiction in users. However, a few days before the trial began, Meta remained the sole defendant, as other companies had reached settlements with the plaintiff.
Mutual settlements and Meta's position
According to reports from The Verge and other international publications, TikTok and Google-owned YouTube previously reached settlements with the plaintiff, resolving the dispute peacefully. Snap also confirmed that it signed a mutual agreement in the final stages before the trial. Only Meta did not compromise and continued to defend its position.Meta representatives stated that the plaintiff dropped the claim without receiving any payment from the company. In its statement, the company confidently noted, "this result shows that we will not back down from defending ourselves against meritless claims." This situation may influence hundreds of other ongoing lawsuits regarding social media algorithms.
According to court documents, as a defense tactic, Meta had prepared evidence proving that the teenager used Facebook and Instagram platforms for only a few minutes a day. The company also claimed that most of the user accounts were created after the lawyer was hired, considering the case to be artificially orchestrated.
Similar cases in the industry and consequences
Despite this victory, Meta has suffered significant losses in other courts this year. For example, a court in New Mexico found the company guilty of misleading consumers and failing to provide adequate child safety, fining it $375 million. Also, in another case in Los Angeles, a jury forced Meta and Google to pay $6 million in damages.The main substance of thousands of lawsuits filed against social media boils down to the following features:
- Retaining the user through the infinite scroll function;
- Sending incessant notifications;
- Adapting algorithms to youth psychology to spark artificial interest.
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