A mother is suing social media platforms Instagram which owned by Meta formerly known as Facebook and Snapchat, alleging these platforms played a role in her daughter’s death.
TRIGGER WARNING : SUCIDE
The mother of 11-year-old said that her daughter took her own life after struggling with the harmful effects of these platforms.
Speaking to the International media the mother shared why she went to sue social media giants and why she wants to do that.
According to the reports, Tammy Rodriguez said that she noticed a change in her 11-year-old. She said they tried to get her help for years as she became “increasingly addicted” to these social media applications.
“She became physically violent if they tried to take it away from her,” said Matthew Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center.
“Her treatment providers felt this was one of the most severe cases of social media addiction but not the only one.”
Mr Mathhew said “Through social media, she was preyed upon by adults; she was lured into providing salacious photographs of herself; she was demeaned and bullied and ultimately succumbed to the depression she had as a result of these encounters”.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has launched an investigation into these platforms as the platforms began facing immense scrutiny for the effects on younger users, News18 reported.
Dangerous Features :
According to Yahoo, the wrongful death lawsuit was filed in January in San Francisco’s US District Court which claims that Meta and Snap’s products contained “defective design, negligence and unreasonable dangerous features.”
The 11-year-old girl’s family alleges that the companies failed to provide adequate safeguards from harmful and exploitative content.
“We’re suing (Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc.) for designing an algorithm that is addictive to children,” lawyer Matthew Bergman, the founder of Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), told the media.
Court papers stated that before her death from suicide, 11-year-old had struggled for two years with addiction to Instagram and Snapchat, and was hospitalised for emergency psychiatric care to treat depression and low self-esteem.
Her family told the media that 11-year-old Selena would become violent and physical when her phone was taken away, and once broke her older sister Destiny’s nose in a fight.
A spokesperson from Meta company said that the company’s “thoughts are with the families affected by these difficult issues” but that they cold not comment on an “ongoing legal matter, Yahoo reported.
Images from ABC News
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