The owner of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has no individual responsibility in several legal cases involving claims that the firm is reinjuring kids through social networks. A number of weeks ago, a U.S. District Judge in California decided that Zuckerberg was not directly involved in the alleged cover up of mental health perils associated with usage of Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg Cleared of Personal Liability in Lawsuits Over Kids' Social Media Harm
The legal complaints accused Zuckerberg, who co-founded Meta, of being the “mastermind” behind attempts to conceal the risks of social media from children. But the judge was still dismissing the allegations citing a lack of a significant link of Zuckerberg to the losses incurred.
The plaintiffs said that Zuckerberg received reports within the Meta platform concerning the detrimental impacts of social media on children. They said that he provided misleading information about the matter to the outside world in one document, while there were indications of the problem inside the firm .
In the case that the Honourable Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers decided in, the judge was clear that mere control of a corporate activity cannot be enough to make an individual legal vicariously liable for the act of another. She noted that the plaintiffs never gave several instances of where Zuckerberg directly influenced the complained of harm.
Although the judges quite resourcefully did not place personal responsibility on Zuckerberg, the cases against Meta still continue. The cases cover thirteen states of America and are replete with demands to hold the firm responsible for the psychologically deleterious effects of its platforms.
Lawyer Vows to Expose Big Tech's Profit-Driven Harm to Children in Ongoing Lawsuits
Previn Warren, a lawyer from Motley Rice which represents users, stated that he will go on to fight for his clients and sue Big Tech for defamation. He promised to reveal how firms put the dollar sign above the head of children and their welfare.
Warren has been serving as a lawyer to 25 different cases that allege the tech industry, including Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat, harming their users by promoting social media dependency. The cases are aimed at seeking compensation of the losses resulting from over indulgence on the social networks.
This is allied to a legal campaign that entails hundreds of identical cases mean by the children, their parents, and the school districts. It is now the social media platforms’ turn how have deliberately failed to protect young users from addiction and mental health issues.
The plaintiffs want Big Tech to be responsible for the harm done by their platforms to children’s mental health. They claimed that the companies have known these risks but are interested in their profits at the expense of users’ safety.
So, as the legal action increases, Warren and his team are collecting more proofs for their statements. The result of these trials may have potentially far-reaching consequences for the technology sector with regards to protecting younger consumers.
State Attorneys General Target Meta Over Social Media’s Impact on Youth Mental Health
At least 44 State Attorneys General across the United States have banded together as part of a new legal campaign against Meta. They are associating the company’s accounts to severe mental health issues for young people like anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
The attorneys general maintain that the company’s platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have caused a lot of harm through disruption of education and daily living of children. The case is a good illustration of the problems which are associated with the negative influence of social networks for youths.
Incidentally, this is officially known as: SOCIAL MEDIA ADOLESCENT ADDICTION/PERSNAL INJURY PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION (In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation) before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Several state attorneys general are probing Meta over its promotion of addictive behavior to children. This they refer to the company algorithms come at the expense of users’ psychological health, retaining them for far longer than is healthy.
This legal action extends off of prior litigation and seeks to prosecute Meta for its part in social media dependency. The result could change how the companies in the sector approach mental health hazards posed by the products they develop.
