An Oregon mother is suing California-based Meta, otherwise known as Facebook, and Snap, saying the companies and their social media platforms Instagram and Snapchat are “responsible for causing and contributing to burgeoning mental health crisis perpetrated upon the children and teenagers in the United States.”
Documents filed Jan. 20 in U.S. District Court in Oregon by Brittney Doffing state Meta intentionally designed its products to be addictive and harmful to its users’ mental health, specifically young girls like her 14-year-old daughter, named M.K. in the suit.
The suit also alleges that Snapchat and Instagram are breeding grounds for “sexual solicitation and exploitation” of minors, and that Meta did nothing because it knowingly benefitted from these predators using the platforms to “solicit and groom minor users into sexually compromising situations and lure them into being sexually exploited and trafficked.”
After downloading the apps, M.K. allegedly has slept less, been messaged by sexual predators on both apps, developed an eating disorder, run away from home several times to regain access to the apps and been hospitalized twice for “psychiatric episodes triggered by Doffing’s attempts to take away or restrict M.K.’s usage of Instagram and Snapchat.”
“(Meta) intentionally created an attractive nuisance to young children, but failed to provide adequate safeguards from the harmful effects they knew were occurring on their wholly owned and controlled digital premises,” the suit continues.
A similar lawsuit has been filed in California by mother Terry Rodriguez, alleging the death by suicide in July 2021 of her daughter Selena Rodriguez was caused or contributed to by "Selena's addictive use of and exposure to defendants' unreasonable dangerous and defective social media products."
Doffing is seeking full compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees and costs and/or an injunction for her daughter’s “mental pain and suffering,” “loss of enjoyment of life,” “past and future medical care expenses for the care and treatment of the injuries sustained” and “future income and earning capacity.”
Doffing is represented by Social Media Victims Law Center PLLC in Seattle.
