The lawsuits against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, stated it should be held accountable for causing and contributing to the burgeoning mental health crisis of teenagers in the United States.
The lawsuits alleged that Instagram caused disturbing eating disorders and mental health problems ranging from anxiety and depression, leading to addiction and suicide attempts in teenage girls.
Instagram is a social networking application allowing users to share photos and videos with friends. It can be downloaded for free from the usual application stores. The company was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who graduated from Stanford University, and now has approximately 200 million users. Facebook, the social networking giant, obtained the company in 2012. While the basic premise is sharing photos, the site's popularity comes from its picture-editing functionality, per Webwise.
Reason behind mental health problems and eating disorders
The first lawsuit was filed by the family of a girl identified as CN. Her mother, Candace Wuest of Kentucky, alleged that CN was only 12 when she started using Instagram and became addicted to it, and eventually attempted suicide.
According to the lawsuit, the way CN uses Instagram contributed to the decline in her mental health. It pushed the 12-year-old girl down a dangerous rabbit hole. The lawsuit accused Meta of strict liability, negligence, fraud, fraudulent concealment, and unjust enrichment.
The lawsuit claimed that meta knew and was aware that its product contributes to teen depression, anxiety, suicide attempts, and self-harm. It questioned why it doesn't change these harmful product features and prevent utilizing algorithms in connection, at least, with teen accounts. The lawsuit further alleged that Meta's priority is growth and competition concerns; thus, it sees acquiring and retaining teens as necessary to its survival.
According to Good Morning America, the lawsuit sought unspecified monetary damages. It presented comparison pictures to show the alleged change in the teenage girl's appearance and depictions of the artwork she used to express her eating disorder and depression.
Attempted suicide and multiple hospitalization
On the other hand, the second lawsuit claimed the plaintiff, Alexandra Martin, also of Kentucky, started using Instagram when she was 12 and was encouraged by the social media platform to open multiple accounts despite her young age.
Martin, now 19 years old, saw eating disorder-related content in the application and began to show symptoms of anxiety and depression.
She was later diagnosed with Anorexia and had to be hospitalized and seek inpatient treatment for her condition. In 2019, the lawsuit stated that Martin attempted suicide twice and was hospitalized. She became addicted to Instagram and could not stop using it. The social media product directed and amplified high amounts of harmful content into Martin's Instagram accounts.
The lawsuit claimed that Martin was frequently bombarded with and exposed to content recommended or made available to her by Meta, which increasingly included underweight models, unhealthy eating, and content about eating disorders. This lawsuit included Martin's parents, Benjamin and Jennifer Martin, as plaintiffs and sought monetary damages.
The two families are represented in their lawsuits by Laura Marquez-Garrett of the Social Media Victims Law Center and filed their cases in federal court in San Francisco, per Reuters.
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