Meta faces trial for social media addiction in Massachusetts

BOSTON: Meta Platforms faces a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts, alleging that the social media company deliberately deployed features on its Instagram platform to addict young users and misled the public about the dangers this posed to adolescent mental health, a judge ruled.

Judge Peter Krupp of Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, in a ruling released Friday, denied Meta’s request to dismiss Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s allegations that she violated the state law. the State on consumer protection and created a public nuisance.

The Facebook and Instagram operator argued that the state’s action was prohibited 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 false claims Meta allegedly made about Instagram’s security, its efforts to protect the well-being of its younger users or its age-verification systems to ensure that users People under the age of 13 remain off the platform.

He added that claims 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 commercial conduct,” not the content posted by third parties.

Campbell, a Democrat, said in a statement that following the judge’s ruling, “we can now move forward with our demands to hold Meta accountable and continue to push for meaningful change on the Meta platforms that will protect young users.

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

The move comes after a federal judge in California on Tuesday denied a request by Meta to dismiss lawsuits filed by more than 30 states accusing it of fueling mental health issues among teens by making its media platforms addictive social media.

Massachusetts was one of the few states that filed separate lawsuits in state rather than federal court when it filed suit in October 2023.

That lawsuit became one of the most high-profile because of first-aired allegations that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been dismissive of concerns that aspects of Instagram could have a detrimental effect on its users.

The lawsuit alleged that Instagram features such as push notifications, “liking” user posts, and endless scrolling were designed to take advantage of teens’ psychological vulnerabilities and their “fear of missing out.”

The state alleged internal data showed the platform was addictive and harming children, but top executives rejected changes its research said would improve teens’ well-being.