Meta Hit With Negligence, Must Pay Over $375 Million
For years since its creation and popularization, social media platforms have faced criticism from parents, educators, and anyone who regularly interacts with kids. Cases of self-harm, poor mental health, body dysmorphia, and more have been linked to social media use. Any effort made to combat the problem has come up empty. Social media is part of our lives, it seems, and there’s nothing we can do about it except adapt and evolve with it. Yet recent developments might suggest otherwise. The courts have taken a stand, and they are not on the side of Big Social Media.
In two separate court decisions, Meta was charged with knowingly creating addictive platforms that have led to poor mental health, child sexual exploitation, self-harm, and even suicide. According to internal documents, Meta executives were warned by their own employees and external child safety experts about these dangers, yet they led consumers to believe their concerns were unfounded. These cases are being compared to the Big Tobacco lawsuits of the past century, in which the heads of the four largest tobacco companies were accused of hiding information that spelled out the harmful nature of tobacco.
On Tuesday, the jury charged Meta with paying $375 million in damages. On Wednesday, the company was ordered to pay an additional $4.1 million. After the decision, a Meta spokesperson declared, “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content . . .. ” YouTube faced similar charges and was found guilty. The organization argues that they are a streaming platform, not a social media company. Snapchat and TikTok also faced charges but settled with the courts before the Meta trials began. Details of the settlements haven’t been disclosed.
Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist best known for writing The Anxious Generation, has been championing this cause for more than a decade. He celebrated on X after the verdicts were released, writing, “For years, parents were told these harms were exaggerated, anecdotal, or simply the unavoidable cost of growing up online. Today, a jury affirmed what parents have long known: Meta and YouTube were designed to exploit young people, with devastating consequences . . .. [The companies] were negligent and dishonest.”
Parents, educators, and lawmakers continue to fight to bring down big social media companies and protect the next generations from harm. At least eight more cases are set to hit the courts in Los Angeles, with thousands more on the books. But, as Haidt says, “. . . for now, let us all just savor the long-awaited arrival of justice.”
