Mental health damage to minors, algorithm addiction, manipulative design of platforms, responsibility for mechanisms like infinite content scrolling, autoplay, and compulsive notifications. The list of cahiers de doléance against the major social platforms is long and contested by thousands of legal actions against the web giants. A true avalanche effect that is spreading from US courts to the whole world. This is also confirmed by the attention given to the issue by President Ursula Von Der Leyen who, presenting the conclusions of the Special Committee on online child safety, announced that the European Commission, after the summer, will propose a minimum age for access to social media for under 18s.
Read more The US ambassador, the 450 million yacht, and the Italian escort: the Fertitta case
Ask the Sun
The questions are automatically suggested by 24Ore AI
based on the content viewed.
The target is not individual content, but the design of platforms, accused of being designed to capture users’ attention and create addiction.
GOALS FROM REPORTING TO ENTERTAINMENT
The main reasons for using social media in Europe and North America from 2014 to 2025. % changes compared to 2014
Read more Von der Leyen: «Social networks are not a toy». Bill proposal for the younger generation in …
In the USA
The largest part of the litigation concerns the United States, with numbers approaching six thousand proceedings. According to Reuters, over 3,300 lawsuits have been filed in California state courts and another 2,600, brought by private citizens, school districts, local administrations, and states, are pending in California federal courts. Many states have also filed legal actions in their respective state courts.
Last March, with a ruling described as historic, the Los Angeles court ordered Meta (Instagram and Facebook) and Google (YouTube) to pay six million dollars for causing addiction and psychological harm such as body dysmorphic disorder, depression, and anxiety to a minor (TikTok and Snapchat had reached a settlement before the trial started). The ruling established for the first time a causal link between the functioning of algorithms and infinite scrolling.
According to the jurors, both Meta and Google knew that mechanisms maximizing users’ time spent (and thus company profits) could cause problems for the most vulnerable individuals, but did not prevent it. The next trial is expected to start, also in Los Angeles, on July 27. It is brought by a fifteen-year-old from Florida who accuses the social platforms of damaging his mental health, causing addiction, loss of sleep, anxiety and depression. In recent weeks, first Google (YouTube) and then TikTok (ByteDance) reached a settlement agreement. Unless there are further developments, Meta and Snapchat will face the jury of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Read more In Italy, the regulatory proposals are at a standstill
