Meta boots law firm ads seeking clients to sue over alleged Facebook, Instagram addiction
Mark Zuckerberg-run Meta on Thursday began removing hundreds of ads from Facebook and Instagram that trial lawyers and marketing outfits have been using to recruit plaintiffs against the tech giant, according to reports.The ads had been designed to find users of Meta products to join the growing number of lawsuits targeting the social-media giant.The crackdown, detailed in an Axios report, comes after a series of courtroom setbacks for Meta.Last month, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harms to kids using their services.And in New Mexico, Meta was found liable for knowingly causing harm to children’s mental health and concealing what it knew about child sexual abuse on its platforms.The verdicts, which brought penalties in the millions, were seen as bellwethers that could open the floodgates to similar suits.
Meta and Google already faced thousands of pending lawsuits across federal and state courts, as well as proposals for legislative crackdowns like the Kids Online Safety Act. Several more trials are planned for this year, including an upcoming federal case in Oakland, where a school district will argue that the platforms harm its students.The bevy of pending lawsuits, filed by both individuals and school districts, broadly claim social media companies intentionally designed their apps to addict young users, causing mental health problems like depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies and body dysmorphia.Social media’s wide reach has made them one of the main sources for finding potential plaintiffs in big personal injury cases.Some 3.5 billion people use Meta’s apps daily. “We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,” Meta has told news outlets.
“We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.”Meta didn’t respond to a Post request for comment.Plaintiffs’ firms have been blank...