Social Media is Harming Our Children. Take a Stand! We can Help.
If you think children are not affected by social media, think again! Children already face many challenges without the added pressure that social media puts on them. Social media addiction negatively impacts children as their brains develop. Gigantic social media companies such as Meta, the owners of Facebook and Instagram, and Snap, the owner of Snapchat, know this and have had many lawsuits brought against them for targeting children’s insecurities and for wrongful death among other claims. Social Media companies continuously expose children to content that can cause them to have decreased self-esteem, body image concerns, and cyberbullying and have used the pandemic as an opportunity to aggressively push their agenda. They know the impacts that these tactics are having on society and fail to protect minors from harm by using any safeguards to help keep our children safe. This harm can affect children in many ways including creating an addiction to social media that can lead to depression and suicide.
How Social Media Affects Children’s Mental Health
Social media platforms use algorithms to cater to the desires and preferences of users to keep them engaged for long periods. This exposure can cause many mental health issues. As an example, children are exposed to content that features models and what is perceived to be perfect body images which encourage children to aspire to look the same as these models. They try to meet this unrealistic standard through unsafe means such as anorexia and bulimia. Not achieving this goal can lead to depression, anxiety, body shaming, and self-harm up to and including suicide. Children may be ridiculed or embarrassed at school which can lead to loneliness and/or cause outbreaks and confrontations.
How Social Media Fails to Protect Its Under-Age Users
Social Media platforms do not use any age or identity verification which can cause children to be exposed to solicitation for sexually exploiting content. Algorithms are designed to entice users to look at content and reels that seem to be never-ending and mentally affect a child’s well-being. Long daily usage can lead to sleep deprivation and other health-related issues. Social media companies choose not to protect our children from these forms of “entertainment” but rather encourage it which can lead to addiction. We must demand that social media platforms implement more safeguards to better protect our children and hold them accountable for damages incurred as a result of their negligence and practices.
Signs to Look Out For if You Suspect Your Child to be a Victim of Prolonged Exposure to Social Media:
- Reduction of interest or interactions with people in social settings
- Loss of or the inability to concentrate and focus due to social media use
- Feeling the need to constantly visit social media sites or apps
- Putting themselves in harm’s way while using social media during activities like driving or working
We want to hold social media companies accountable for the damages they have caused you or your loved ones. Lawsuits against social media companies may force them to change their practices and algorithms. Let us help you receive the compensation you deserve.
Addictive Design of Social Media Apps, Anukriti Sharma, Dec. 12, 2019. Available at LinkedIn.
- Many social media companies design their platforms to be addictive to keep users engaged and to increase advertising revenue.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much will it cost us?
Nothing. Our firm will advance all expenses involved in this litigation. Expenses would be paid out of the ultimate award. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid if and only if we obtain recovery on your behalf. If the action is not successful, no expenses or legal fees are owed.
What is our time commitment?
Your time commitment is initially very minimal and typically involves spending between 1-5 hours gathering pertinent information needed to complete a Plaintiff Fact Sheet questionnaire that will be used to file your case.
Are there any repercussions for participating?
None. You will not be sued or owe any money as a result of your participation in the litigation, so there is no downside to getting involved.
How long do I have to sue?
Statutes of limitation vary from state to state and depend on the specific claims and the date of injury. In some states like Louisiana, you must file a lawsuit within one year of being injured. Therefore, you should act quickly to ensure your lawsuit is not dismissed for being too stale.
Can I wait to get involved?
There is no benefit to waiting, and in some instances, those at the back of the line recover less money.
What other entities have signed up?
About 40 school districts around the country have already filed suit, with a wave of others expected to follow shortly. We are in discussions with several school districts in Louisiana that anticipate taking action very soon.
What is the difference between class actions and mass torts?
Multidistrict litigation or MDL is a procedure used by federal courts in which civil cases involving similar issues from around the country are consolidated and moved to one court. Once there, one judge will manage the litigation during pretrial and discovery. If the case is not dismissed during this process or settled, it will transfer back to the original court for trial. The purpose of consolidating these cases is to consolidate the evidence gathered for one suit for the remaining lawsuits, which can significantly streamline the process, ultimately reducing the total costs and time for lawsuits. As a result, MDLs typically promote consistency between similar lawsuits since a single court rules on all pretrial proceedings, saving time and money.
In a class-action lawsuit, there is a single lawyer in charge, a single case before a jury, and one verdict for everyone who qualified to be in the “class.” A class action is filed on behalf of a large number of plaintiffs with similar complaints. There will be a few plaintiffs who represent the rest of the class. The court’s decision is binding upon all participants, which means the award will be split among everybody involved.
What is a Plaintiff Fact Sheet (PFS)? Will I have to fill one out?
Yes. Plaintiff Fact Sheets (PFSs) are standardized forms frequently used in multi-district litigation (or other coordinated discovery proceedings) to obtain general information about plaintiffs’ claims. They are typically court-approved and created through party collaboration and agreement. PFSs replace or simplify certain aspects of fact discovery (primarily interrogatories) and are tailored to provide both plaintiffs and defendants with information critical to claims or defenses, as well as ultimately enable counsel and judges to narrow down the pool of cases for further discovery and initial bellwether trial selections.
What if our case is chosen as a bellwether?
Courts in complex or multi-party cases utilize a bellwether approach to trial selection and, ultimately, matter resolution. The bellwether process allows the parties and the court to “test” a few cases very early in the process, leading to a better understanding of the global plaintiff population. This is done by selecting a group of plaintiffs to represent the whole; these representative cases go forth to trial and the results act as the “bellwether” to predict other, similarly situated plaintiff trial outcomes. In other words, the verdicts from this grouping are extrapolated to the remaining cases, ultimately leading to information regarding liability and damage ranges for a majority of the cases. With increasing frequency, this process is being done to move towards global settlement, with the bellwether results being utilized for valuing the grouping of claims into settlement pools.
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