"Meta is facing 8 lawsuits that claim Facebook and Instagram lure young people into addiction for profit", 9 Jun 2022

Meta is facing a fresh set of lawsuits that accuse the company of deliberately making two of its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, addictive to young people in order to profit from them.

Beasley Allen Law, the law firm that filed the eight lawsuits last week, said that the young users were driven to self-harm or developed eating disorders and sleeplessness after excessive use of Facebook and Instagram. The lawsuits were filed in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.

"The defendants knew that their products and related services were dangerous to young and impressionable children and teens, yet they completely disregarded their own information," said Andy Birchfield, a Beasley Allen attorney...

One of the suits was filed on Monday by a Tennessee mother who claimed that her 15-year-old daughter's heavy use of Meta's products led her to suicidal ideation and self-harm. 

According to court documents seen by Insider, the woman's attorneys said the daughter received notifications from the apps all day, causing her to become addicted to the apps. 

She also grappled with an eating disorder, severe anxiety, depression

How to recognize the signs of depression and effectively cope with your symptomsDepression is a serious disorder that affects how you think, feel, and act. You may need therapy, medication, and remedies to manage symptoms.Read more , and poor sleep, per the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said Meta failed to warn the daughter and her mother "of the dangers of addiction, sleep deprivation, and problematic use of the Meta platform(s)." It also claimed that the company "misrepresented the safety, utility, and non-addictive properties of their products."

The set of lawsuits followed the revelation late last year that Meta had long known that its platforms could harm young users' psychological and physical health....

A Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg on Wednesday that its platforms now have features that allow parents to monitor their children's usage and offer notifications that remind users to take a break from its apps...