CourtSupreme Court of British Columbia
Date FiledApril 11, 2022
CO-COUNSEL Rice Parsons Leoni & Elliott LLP
Proposed Action
The plaintiffs allege that Instagram and Facebook’s addictive design features—and the harmful content promoted by their algorithms—have inflicted mental harm on children using the products. The defendants (“Meta”) ignored warnings from their own researchers that their products were hurting children, choosing to maximize engagement and profit rather than create safeguards to protect children.
Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire founder of Facebook (now Meta) famously told employees to “move fast and break things.” The plaintiffs allege that in applying this ethos to their social media platforms, Meta ignored evidence that their products were inflicting significant mental harm on children and causing anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm and thoughts of suicide. Rather than make their products less addictive or stop promoting harmful content to minors, Meta ignored the risks and kept striving to maximize profits by maximizing children’s time on the apps.
If you know a child who has experienced mental health issues that may be associated with their use of Instagram and Facebook, they may be affected by this proposed class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs’ claim has been filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and is awaiting certification as a class proceeding.
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