Key facts
- Lawsuits are emerging in France and Italy against social media platforms, alleging algorithmic contributions to child suicide and self-harm.
- An Italian lawsuit against TikTok and Meta seeks stronger age verification and algorithm transparency.
- A French lawsuit against TikTok alleges exposure of teenagers to harmful content leading to suicides and eating disorders.
- French prosecutors are investigating TikTok for potentially exposing minors to suicide-related content.
- A UK family is part of a US lawsuit against Meta over a teenager's death, citing deliberate design choices.
- A US court ordered Meta and Google to pay $6 million in an addiction case concerning warnings about social media harm.
A wave of lawsuits targeting social media companies over alleged harm to young users is gaining momentum across Europe and in the United States. Families in France and Italy are bringing civil cases, arguing that platform algorithms contribute to child suicide and self-harm. Meanwhile, cases in the Netherlands and Germany are focusing on addictive design, child safety, and manipulation.
In Italy, a class action lawsuit filed by rights group MOIGE against TikTok and Meta seeks to compel platforms to implement stronger age-verification systems for users under 14 and to provide more transparency about their algorithms. The lawsuit aims to protect approximately 3.5 million Italian children aged 7 to 14 who are reportedly active on these platforms. Lawyers for Meta and TikTok have questioned the jurisdiction of Italian courts, while also attempting to downplay the scientific evidence presented regarding the platforms' awareness of potential harms to children.
France has seen a lawsuit filed by a group of families called Algos Victima against TikTok, alleging that the platform's algorithm exposed teenagers to content promoting self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide, leading to two deaths. French prosecutors have also opened a formal criminal investigation into TikTok for potentially exposing minors to suicide-related content and endangering vulnerable users, with potential charges including unlawful data collection. The lawsuit has been expanded to include 16 families, some grieving daughters who died by suicide, while others have children suffering from severe mental health issues linked to platform content.
In the United States, a California judge recently denied Meta and Google's request for a new trial in a case where they were ordered to pay a former young user $6 million. The lawsuit argued that the companies were negligent in warning young users about the potential harms of extreme social media use.
The family of Scottish teenager Murray Dowey, who died by suicide in December 2023, has joined a lawsuit in Delaware against Meta. The Social Media Victims Centre, which filed the complaint, claims Dowey's death was a foreseeable consequence of Meta's deliberate design decisions, including awareness of a feature allowing adult strangers to connect with children since 2019.