Sat 22 January 2022:
The mother of an 11-year-old girl who committed suicide last year has filed a lawsuit against Facebook parent company Meta and social media company Snap, alleging that they are to blame for her daughter’s death.
Tammy Rodriguez accuses the two companies, Meta-owned Instagram and Snap-owned messaging app Snapchat, of making her daughter, Selena Rodriguez, addicted to their “dangerous and defective social media products,” according to the complaint.
Selena Rodriguez committed suicide last July “after struggling with the harmful effects of social media,” according to the suit, which was filed in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday by her mother, of Enfield, Connecticut. The complaint goes on to say that the apps are explicitly designed to “exploit human psychology” by employing sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence.
The case arises in the context of growing concerns about the impact of social media on children.
Selena suffered from a “extreme” addiction to Instagram and Snapchat, according to the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), which filed the lawsuit in California on behalf of Selena’s mother, Tammy.
According to the SMVLC, Tammy confiscated her daughter’s devices on multiple occasions, only to have her run away to use social media.
“On multiple occasions, Selena received mental health treatment for her addiction,” the statement said. “One outpatient therapist who evaluated Selena remarked that she had never seen a patient as addicted to social media.”
A therapist who treated Selena Rodriguez said “she had never seen a patient as addicted to social media as Selena.”
The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened the addiction, causing her to become increasingly depressed and sleep-deprived, the lawsuit claims.
Selena had allegedly suffered from sleep deprivation and depression for months prior to her suicide on July 21, 2021, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic began and she spent more time on social media.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Selena was repeatedly solicited for sexually exploitative content, which she ultimately shared.
Her mental state deteriorated as a result of the images being leaked and shared by her classmates, leading to her suicide.
“Facebook, now Meta, has failed to protect young people on its platforms and instead chose to ignore or, in some cases, double down on known manipulations that pose a real threat to physical and mental health — exploiting children in the interest of profit,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the effort.
Snap said it is committed to keeping its users safe.
“We are devastated to hear of Selena’s passing and our hearts go out to her family. While we can’t comment on the specifics of active litigation, nothing is more important to us than the wellbeing of our community,” a Snap spokesperson said. “In fact, Snapchat helps people communicate with their real friends, without some of the public pressure and social comparison features of traditional social media platforms, and intentionally makes it hard for strangers to contact young people.”
The litigation comes as social media companies face growing scrutiny for the effects on younger users. It also comes after former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen in October told lawmakers that Facebook prioritizes profit over user safety. In November, meanwhile, 10 states launched a probe into whether Meta violated consumer protection laws by trying to attract kids to its platforms, including Instagram.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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