A Pueblo, Colorado woman has filed a lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, alleging the platform intentionally inflicted “reckless, wanton, malicious [and] fraudulent” harm on her 13-year-old daughter.
Cecelia Tesch said in the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on July 20th, that the addictive nature of Facebook led “to body dysmorphia, eating disorder, self-harm, severe anxiety, depression,” among other health effects.
Tesch is represented by a Denver branch of the massive, Florida-based personal injury law firm Morgan and Morgan. It’s not their first experience suing the world’s largest social media company. In 2018, the firm claimed in a class-action lawsuit that Facebook illegally collected and sold user data through a series of personality quizzes on the platform.
Other lawsuits from a pair of Kentucky families also made headlines this week for claiming the company’s Instagram service increases the likelihood of mental health problems in children — especially depression, anxiety and anorexia in teenage girls — and that the company’s own internal research has shown this.
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Colorado lawsuit.
Outlining the complex reasons the social medial platform is addicting to children, the lawsuit alleges the 13-year-old girl, referred to as "R.P.," suffered from sleep deprivation, body dysmorphia (a mental health condition causing one to focus on perceived defects or flaws in appearance), an eating disorder, self-harm, severe anxiety and depression. R.P. also exhibited a declining motivation to do school work or socialize with family or peers, according to the lawsuit.
And don't think for a second the lawyers aren't chomping at the bit to get a piece of Suckerburger. Morgan and Morgan is the largest 'liability law firm' in the country, based here in Florida.
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Here's a good article from The Guardian on the subject - it's from 2011!:
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Nobody will ever know for sure whether Facebook has a piece of the responsibility for what is happening to these kids. Frankly, I don't care ... so long as they can take a big chunk out of Facebook they are doing God's work AFAIC. These social media platforms are playing with fire, especially concerning children and their mental health and sociability. No different than pharma companies marketing untested drugs to kids without any clue as to what the long-term consequences will be.
ReplyDeleteThe world would be a better place if they were all shutdown. All of them. Adults can go back to writing letters or emails.
and reading logs I hope...
DeleteDo they still run the radio adverts 'Morgan and Morgan. For the people'? It wasn't a Florida trip until we'd heard that at least once.
ReplyDeleteYeah - and they added a new tag line 'There's only one. Morgan & Morgan'
DeleteI'm sorry, but isn't that two Morgans?
Advertising for Dummies is available on Amazon, Mr. MorganMorgan...