Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc. are to blame for the suicide of an 11-year-old who suffered from depression and sleep deprivation after becoming addicted to Instagram and Snapchat, the girl’s mother alleged in a lawsuit.
Instagram and Snapchat have deliberately designed algorithms that keep teens hooked onto their platforms and “promote problematic and excessive use that they know is indicative of addictive and self-destructive use,” according to the lawsuit in San Francisco federal court.
The complaint appears to be the first of its kind against Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., said attorney Matthew Bergman, who founded Social Media Victims Law Center in Seattle and represents Rodriguez’s mother.
The backlash against social media isn’t limited to the US. The father of a 14-year-old in the UK touched off a firestorm when he blamed her 2017 suicide partly on Instagram. The company told the BBC that it doesn’t allow content that promotes self-harm.
Source: Meta, Snap sued over social media ‘addicted’ girl’s suicide | Australasian Lawyer