Our trial attorneys at Anapol Weiss help individuals, families, and local governments hold social media tech giants accountable for the teens they have harmed, while protecting future users from the same fate in the process.
Social Media and Teen Addiction
Social media companies have designed their platforms to be addictive, putting profits over the safety of their users and encouraging addictive behaviors in our kids to maximize screen time. Social media companies like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat also know that social media addiction is causing serious mental health issues, especially in its youngest, most impressionable users.
Since the debut of MySpace twenty years ago, technology has become more portable, profitable, and addictive, and the use of social media among teenagers has skyrocketed. This has changed not only the way teens communicate with one another but also how they view themselves and how their brains develop.
Addictive features that leverage behavioral science, the psychological need for social acceptance among teens, and the lack of effective parental controls make TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Facebook dangerous. Our clients’ allegations detail heartbreaking stories of mental illness, self-harm and even death. Anapol Weiss is fighting back on behalf of our clients through social media addiction lawsuits.
Social Media’s Designed Dangers
Despite knowing social media’s prevalence among teens, tech giants pushed addictive designs with defective safety features:
- Ineffective age verification and parental controls: YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook lack effective age verification methods and parental controls.
- Weaponizing Urgency: Building technology that compels young users to engage compulsively, time-sensitive, ephemeral, or fleeting features like stories and Snaps, involving timing-specific interactions.
- Addictive Notifications: Social media features include inconsistent and unexpected reward systems, similar to those found in gambling. These features, along with push notifications sent throughout the day, disrupts school and sleep to redirect attention to social media and increase engagement.
- Social Gamification: Social metrics to keep kids engaged include gamification of time spent on the app and their perceived popularity through Likes, Snapscores, Trophies, Charms, and Snapstreaks.
- Beauty filters: Social media companies create and promote beauty filters even though they know filters can negatively impact users, setting unnatural appearance and unrealistic beauty standards, leading to body dysmorphia in children and teens.
- Time tracking: Social media companies do not have restrictions on the length, time of day, and frequency of user sessions.
While TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat’s designs vary, the goal is the same – to keep users on the platform for as long as possible, and evidence is building that these companies knew about the resulting harms to teens and children. Concealed evidence, such as leaked documents from former employees, is being brought to the spotlight through social media litigation.
Science Behind Addictive Dangers of Social Media Social media can affect the brain the way gambling and certain drugs do. Likes, comments, and other notifications may cause the brain to release dopamine. This chemical – the same one released while playing slot machines or drinking alcohol – creates feelings of pleasure.
Teen users become dependent on social media interactions to provide a dopamine high and can suffer psychological withdrawal effects like opioid addicts suffer when they are cut off from social media. Tolerance of social media interaction leads to dependence on social media, just like one would become addicted to drugs or alcohol. Teens are especially vulnerable to harm from the overuse of social media and striving to attain unrealistic life and beauty goals.
A growing body of research suggests a link between social media and mental health problems. Studies on adolescents documenting several health issues allegedly caused or worsened due to social media use, including the following:
• Anorexia
• Anxiety
• Body dysmorphia
• Eating disorders
• Depression
• Sleep disorders
• Self-harm
• Suicidal ideation (suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts)
• Suicide
The risks of social media are better understood than before. Still, companies continue to deflect responsibility and fail to make impactful changes.
Litigation involving Social Media Companies
After 80+ adolescent addiction lawsuits were filed against social media corporations in federal courts across the country, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) centralized all federal cases on October 6, 2022. This action created a large multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) in the Northern District of California involving lawsuits against social media companies filed by parents on behalf of minors, younger adults who were harmed as minors, states, local governments, and school districts. Now all social media addiction lawsuits filed in federal court are under the supervision of U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to efficiently move the cases forward.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers selected two of Anapol Weiss’ attorneys -- Alexandra Walsh and Paige Boldt -- to serve as part of the leadership of the MDL’s Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. Alexandra Walsh is the Co-Chair of the Discovery Committee focused on Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook. Alexandra Walsh and Paige Boldt are both actively involved in the MDL, working on the trial, expert, and discovery committees. Our attorneys understand just how devastating the effects of social media addiction can be, and they genuinely care about the clients they represent.
Given the large numbers of cases across the country, there are ongoing consolidated litigations in both California’s state and federal court. Our firm has filed cases in both the federal MDL and state court litigations.
Legal Claims Against Social Media Companies
Each of the named social media companies has been accused of overlooking clear evidence about the harm young users experience — the companies should have noted the consequences of their defective products, but they failed to innovate responsibly or warn the public about the dangers of their platform.
Those struggling with the dangerous effects of social media, are not alone. Plaintiffs are advocating for better warnings for the public about the harm social media can cause teenagers.
- Young adults, parents, and guardians want to hold Social Media companies accountable for their or their children’s suffering, including the physical, mental and economic harm caused by social media’s defective products.
- School district and local government claims are being filed as public nuisance liability claims. They are seeking compensation for the economic damages of social media addiction within their communities, including the costs associated with hiring additional mental health professionals to help children cope with their social media addiction.
- States are filing Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP) cases. UDAP cases are designed to protect the public from deceptive business practices and further harm.
Help For Suicide Ideation and Eating Disorders
If you or a loved one is currently struggling with suicide ideation and need help, call 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to connect with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This resource is free, confidential and available 24/7.
If you need urgent help regarding eating disorders, call 1-800-931-2237 or visit NationalEatingDisorders.org to connect with the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA).
Contact an Experienced Lawyer at Anapol Weiss for a Free Consultation
Anapol Weiss attorneys are ready to fight for families and people against billion-dollar companies through the civil legal system. As awareness of these issues grows, so does a desire to hold these companies accountable for the harm they have caused.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by an addiction to social media, please feel comfortable to reach out to us. You can get answers from the attorneys at Anapol Weiss. Call our firm for a free, confidential consultation. There is no obligation when you contact us. We will explain your legal rights and the next steps toward holding the social media companies responsible.