Monday, May 1, 2023
The city of Providence has sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook, TikTok and several other social media platforms.
The 66-page complaint was filed Friday in federal court by the Lynch and Pine Law Firms, with former Rhode Island AGs Patrick Lynch and Jeffrey Pine as lead attorneys.
The city claims tech companies are responsible for “an alarming number of youth deaths.” [who] People in the city are beginning to suffer from deteriorating mental health and behavioral disorders.
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“The City of Providence has been directly harmed by the mental health crisis among our community and school youth caused by Defendants,” Lynch and Pine allege in their lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs’ communities and schools are directly affected by the youth mental health crisis and are tasked with addressing the rapidly increasing mental, emotional, and social problems among this population. Yes,” the former AGs continued. Excessive use of social media has made health problems more serious than ever. ”
Lynch and Pine allege that the social media companies are a “public nuisance” and are “negligent” in seeking relief, and are seeking “compensatory and punitive damages suffered by the victims.” . [the City of Providence]. ”
They also want a trial by jury.
The list of defendants includes “META PLATFORMS, INC., FACEBOOK HOLDINGS, LLC, FACEBOOK OPERATIONS, LLC, META PAYMENTS INC., META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC, INSTAGRAM, LLC, SICULUS, INC., SNAP INC., TIKTOK INC., TIKTOK LTD., TIKTOK LLC, BYTEDANCE INC., BYTEDANCE LTD., ALPHABET INC., XXVI HOLDINGS INC., GOOGLE LLC, and YOUTUBE, LLC.”
Former AG claims
“Surveys show that 90% of children between the ages of 13 and 17 use social media. Younger children also use social media on a regular basis, with research showing that 8- to 12-year-olds 38% of children use social media, 49% of children ages 10 to 12 use social media, and 32% of children ages 7 to 9 use social media.” Lynch and Pine. He alleges this in his lawsuit. “As a means of maximizing revenue, Defendants intentionally design and operate their platforms to maximize their users’ screen time. It accomplishes this by using algorithms to build features intended to exploit human psychology.”
Lynch and Pine go on to argue that the tech defendants’ impact on children’s mental health is why they should pay damages to help the city’s struggling school system. It cites the influence.
“That is why Plaintiff’s school, like many schools across the country, provides mental health services to its students as part of its mission. We need more funding to meet our growing needs. Plaintiffs are dealing with a mental health crisis and record rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and other tragedies caused by defendants. “We need funding to develop long-term plans to address the fallout from the pandemic,” they continued.
“Plaintiffs also charge Defendants with their continued use of algorithms, social media features, and policies that target minors and how they affect the current mental health of minors in Plaintiffs’ communities and public school systems. “We demand that defendants be held accountable for what they know to be the driving force behind the crisis. We demand that defendants cease targeting youth for profit,” Lynch and Pine argue. .