Meta faces a Massachusetts social media addiction lawsuit

META Platforms is facing a Massachusetts lawsuit alleging the social media company intentionally deployed features on its Instagram platform to addict young users and misled the public about the dangers posed by to the mental health of teenagers, a judge ruled.

Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp in Boston, in a decision made public Friday (Oct. 18), denied Meta’s request to dismiss Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy’s claims Campbell, which violated state consumer protection law and created a public nuisance.

The operator of Facebook and Instagram argued that the state’s case was barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a federal law that broadly protects Internet companies from lawsuits over content posted by users

Krupp said the law did not apply to the false statements Meta allegedly made about Instagram’s safety, its efforts to protect the well-being of its young users or its age verification systems to ensure that children under the age of 13 stay off the platform.

He said allegations about the negative impacts of Instagram’s design features were also not barred because the state “primarily sought to hold Meta accountable for its own business conduct,” not content posted by third parties.

Campbell, a Democrat, said that as a result of the judge’s ruling, “We can now move forward with our claims to hold Meta accountable and continue to push for meaningful change to Meta’s platforms that will protect young users.”

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A Meta spokesman said the company disagreed with the ruling and that “the evidence will demonstrate our commitment to supporting young people”.

The ruling came after a federal judge in California on Tuesday rejected a request by Meta to dismiss lawsuits from more than 30 states that accuse it of fueling mental health problems among teenagers by making its gaming platforms addictive. social networks

Massachusetts was one of the few states that filed separate claims in state, rather than federal, courts when it sued in October 2023.

It became one of the most high-profile lawsuits because of allegations it first aired about how CEO Mark Zuckerberg had dismissed concerns that some aspects of Instagram could have a harmful effect on its users.

The lawsuit alleged that Instagram features such as push notifications, “likes” on user posts and endless scrolling were designed to exploit the psychological vulnerabilities of teenagers and their “fear of missing out.”

The state claimed internal data showed the platform was addictive and harming children, but senior executives rejected changes that their research showed would improve teenagers’ well-being. Reuters