Social Media Negligence and Fraudulent Concealment Court Case Alert: Children Are Not Adults

By Patricia Burke of Safe Tech International Image courtesy Floris Freshman

On Oct. 30, Clay Calvert of the conservative think tank AEI (American Enterprise Institute) reported, “Lawsuits, Minors, and Social Media Addiction: A Judge’s Warning Shot to Platforms.”

He is covering the lawsuit brought against social media giants regarding the protection of minors. “California Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl on October 13 refused to dismiss two claims filed on behalf of minors in several consolidated cases targeting the owners of popular platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.”

The contested concept of social media addiction—it “is not currently a diagnosable condition”—is central to these cases. The plaintiffs assert that the platforms are engineered with addiction-creating design features that (1) prey on minors’ “already-heightened need for social comparison and interpersonal feedback-seeking,” and (2) exploit “their relatively underdeveloped prefrontal cortex” and brains’ “chemical reward system” through algorithmically controlled “intermittent variable rewards” of dopamine. In turn, such addiction supposedly spawns a raft of harms—anorexia, bulimia, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, suicidal ideation, and suicide—with the platforms’ designs encouraging minors to make “unhealthy, negative social comparisons” via features such as “appearance-altering filters.” [ ]

As for the claims the judge allowed to proceed, one is for negligence against the platforms’ owners (ByteDance, Google, Meta, and Snap Inc.). The other is for fraudulent concealment against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram.

The decision is a wake-up call to the platforms’ owners because the judge allowed the claims to proceed despite the platforms raising First Amendment free-speech concerns and the federal statutory safeguards platforms possess under Section 230 for content posted by others (third-party content). In short, the plaintiffs’ attorneys successfully made—at least, at this early stage of litigation—end-runs around the platforms’ traditionally formidable constitutional and statutory defenses against civil liability.” [ ]

“The plaintiffs aver their “harms were caused directly by Defendants’ negligent failure to properly design and operate their platforms.” [ ]

Why else is Judge Kuhl’s decision important, despite occurring at the early demurrer phase? Because another batch of consolidated lawsuits (known as In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation) raising very similar claims and involving multiple minors and nearly 200 school districts nationwide is taking place in federal court in Oakland, California. Indeed, on October 16, the plaintiffs in the federal litigation filed a copy of Judge Kuhl’s state-court ruling with presiding US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

Furthermore, the decision is significant because schools view social media addiction cases as enormously lucrative ways to boost their budgets, just as they recently did with settlements from electronic cigarette company Juul Labs. – Source

Let’s look a little more closely at some of the cited references.

Children Are Not Small Adults: “Heterogeneity of Prevalence of Social Media Addiction Across Multiple Classification Schemes: Latent Profile Analysis” 

The reference “is not currently a diagnosable condition” in the article from AEI hyperlinks to the study “Heterogeneity of Prevalence of Social Media Addiction Across Multiple Classification Schemes: Latent Profile Analysis” which is a survey of adults, not children.

Methods “A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted, and the replicability of findings was assessed in 2 independent samples comprising 573 adults from the United Kingdom (261/573, 45.6% men; mean age 43.62 years, SD 12.24 years) and 474 adults from the United States (224/474, 47.4% men; mean age 44.67 years, SD 12.99 years). The demographic characteristics of both samples were similar to those of their respective populations.”

The Study Heterogeneity of Prevalence of Social Media Addiction Across Multiple Classification Schemes: Latent Profile Analysis (Of Adults) Reported “Prevalence Estimates” for Social Media Addiction (Which the Industry Claims Does Not Exist)

The results of the hyperlinked study reported “the prevalence estimates of social media addiction varied across the classification schemes, ranging from 1% to 15% for the UK sample and 0% to 11% for the US sample. The latent profile analysis identified 3 latent groups for both samples: low-risk, at-risk, and high-risk.

501 Recent Articles About Social Media Addiction: Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis

The hyperlink to “social media addiction” in the second paragraph of the AEI article links to a 2022 paper, “Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysi.” The literature review notes “social media’s impact on subjective well-being is a source of concern worldwide and calls for up-to-date investigations of the role social media plays in mental health. Much research has discovered how habitual social media use may lead to addiction and negatively affect adolescents’ school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships. The present study was conducted to review the extant literature in the domain of social media and analyze global research productivity during 2013–2022. Bibliometric analysis was conducted on 501 articles that were extracted from the Scopus database using the keywords social media addiction and problematic social media use.”

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Among the 7.91 billion people in the world as of 2022, 4.62 billion active social media users, and the average time individuals spent using the internet was 6 h 58 min per day with an average use of social media platforms of 2 h and 27 min (7). Despite their increasing ubiquity in people’s lives and the incredible advantages they offer to instantly interact with people, an increasing number of studies have linked social media use to negative mental health consequences, such as suicidality, loneliness, and anxiety (8). Numerous sources have expressed widespread concern about the effects of social media on mental health. A 2011 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) identifies a phenomenon known as Facebook depression which may be triggered “when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression” (9). Similarly, the UK’s Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) claims that there is a clear evidence of the relationship between social media use and mental health issues based on a survey of nearly 1,500 people between the ages of 14–24 (10). According to some authors, the increase in usage frequency of social media significantly increases the risks of clinical disorders described (and diagnosed) as “Facebook depression,” “fear of missing out” (FOMO), and “social comparison orientation” (SCO) (11). Other risks include sexting (12), social media stalking (13), cyber-bullying (14), privacy breaches (15), and improper use of technology. Therefore, social media’s impact on subjective well-being is a source of concern worldwide and calls for up-to-date investigations of the role social media plays with regard to mental health (8). Many studies have found that habitual social media use may lead to addiction and thus negatively affect adolescents’ school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships (16–18). As a result of addiction, the user becomes highly engaged with online activities motivated by an uncontrollable desire to browse through social media pages and “devoting so much time and effort to it that it impairs other important life areas” (19).

Children Are Not Small Adults – “Interactions of impulsivity, general executive functions, and specific inhibitory control explain symptoms of social-networks-use disorder: An experimental study.”

Footnote 38 from Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis brings the reader to another study: “Interactions of impulsivity, general executive functions, and specific inhibitory control explain symptoms of social-networks-use disorder: An experimental study.”

Again, the hyperlink refers to a study of adults, and not children.

“In the current study, we investigated 112 participants (out of which 63 were female) aged between 17 and 53 years old (M = 22.76, SD = 7.11). Most of the participants were apprentices or students (83.9%), 49.2% lived in a romantic relationship, and 6.3% had children. The majority (72.3%) reported to have a general qualification for university entrance, and the rest either graduated university (10.8%) or post-high-school institution (16.1%), or provided no information (0.9%). The majority (93 participants) scored non-problematic, 15 participants scored problematic, and 4 participants reached the cutoff for a pathological use on the social-networks-use disorder scale. This non-clinical, convenient sample was recruited by mailing lists and contact lists of the University of Duisburg-Essen. The study was conducted in a laboratory, individual stetting.”

The “Not Enough Research” Argument is Wearing Thin in Light of Real-World Conditions Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis

“The amount of research on problematic use of social media has dramatically increased since the last decade. But using social media in an unhealthy manner may not be considered an addiction or a disorder as this behavior has not yet been formally categorized as such (38). Although research has shown that people who use social media in a negative way often report negative health-related conditions, most of the data that have led to such results and conclusions comprise self-reported data (39). The dimensions of excessive social media usage are not exactly known because there are not enough diagnostic criteria and not enough high-quality long-term studies available yet.”

Who decides when to categorize an adverse outcome or harmful health condition?

A Society That Does Not Protect Children Is in Its Fall, For Example, Protecting the FCC Instead of Health

AEI reported that “In 2023 the Biden Administration [ ] sweepingly asserted that “online platforms often use manipulative design techniques embedded in their products to promote addictive and compulsive use by young people to generate more revenue.”

Children do not legally buy alcohol, smoke, drive automobiles, go to war, or vote because society recognizes its responsibility to protect minors.

Why is the industry playing such an enormous role in denying harm, with both social media addiction in children as well as microwave Illness, also known as Electromagnetic Hypersensivity? (View the sixty-one videos from the EMF Medical Conference 2021 here)

This court case is an opportunity to distinguish between protecting the rights of children vs. enabling industry growth despite harm, across all age groups.

There is guarded optimism.

“All surely won’t go well for private enterprise when a judge frames a case—in her opening sentence, no less­­­­––as about “whether a social media company may maximize its own benefit and advertising revenue at the expense of the health of minor users of that . . . company’s applications or websites.” Indeed, California Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl on October 13 refused to dismiss two claims filed on behalf of minors in several consolidated cases targeting the owners of popular platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.” – Source

Child health advocates are hoping that the judge in the social media case does not mirror the alarming decision by Federal Judge Edward M. Chen about labeling cellphones at point of sale. The judge stated, “The FCC is tasked with balancing the competing objectives of ensuring public health and safety and promoting the development and growth of the telecommunications network and related services.” According to the FCC, Berkeley was interfering with federal oversight of the telecom industry because the Berkeley ordinance “over warns” consumers.

There is no “balance” created by throwing human health and the environment under the bus.

A Court Ruling In Favor of Integrity

Informed activists are hoping that California Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl reflects the courage and integrity of the District Court judges who ruled against the FCC in 2021 regarding the agency’s lack of justification for retaining its 1996 exposure guidelines.

The court’s ruling identified lack of protection of children as a major concern. “The court found the FCC ignored numerous organizations, scientists and medical doctors who called on them to update limits and the court found the FCC failed to address these issues:

• impacts of long term wireless exposure
• impacts to children,
• the testimony of people injured by wireless radiation,
• impacts to wildlife and the environment
• impacts to the developing brain and reproduction.” – Source

The FCC, industry, and society at large has ignored the court’s ruling.

This can change, especially as more evidence mounts.

Read Investigate Europe’s Three-Part Investigation on 5G 

Following lockdowns, technology use skyrocketed, without scrutiny. It’s time to circle back and bring safety to the forefront.

In the current case against the media platforms, “The plaintiffs aver their “harms were caused directly by Defendants’ negligent failure to properly design and operate their platforms.”

This issue of negligence in design apparently extends much further than social media, to wireless technology as a whole, including 5G. “Investigate Europe is a team of journalists from 11 countries working together to cross-check facts and investigate transnational structures. They released a must-read investigation on the telecom industry’s rollout of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) across Europe.”

The ICNIRP Cartel: Who’s Who in the EMF Research World

5G The Mass Experiment (Part 1)

How Much is  Safe? Finances Effect Research (Part 2)

Real 5G issues overshadowed by Covid-19 conspiracy theories-Part 3

The investigative team also created a video explainer of their findings. Watch it here.  – (Courtesy Environmental Health Trust)

Action Item: Wireless Radiation Laws Should Protect Children

Key Phrases: Social Media Harm

Here are a few keywords and phrases from the cited articles regarding children and social media, and the question of “whether a social media company may maximize its own benefit and advertising revenue at the expense of the health of minor users.”

platforms are engineered with addiction-creating design features that (1) prey on minors’ “already-heightened need for social comparison and interpersonal feedback-seeking”

exploit “their relatively undeveloped prefrontal cortex” and brains’ “chemical reward system” through algorithmically controlled “intermittent variable rewards” of dopamine

anorexia, bulimia, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, suicidal ideation, and suicide

platforms’ designs encouraging minors to make “unhealthy, negative social comparisons” via features such as “appearance-altering filters.”

habitual social media use may lead to addiction and negatively affect adolescents’ school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships

an increasing number of studies have linked social media use to negative mental health consequences, such as suicidality, loneliness, and anxiety

the increase in usage frequency of social media significantly increases the risks of clinical disorders described (and diagnosed) as “Facebook depression,” “fear of missing out” (FOMO), and “social comparison orientation” (SCO)

Other risks include sexting (12), social media stalking (13), cyber-bullying (14), privacy breaches (15), and improper use of technology.

Many studies have found that habitual social media use may lead to addiction and thus negatively affect adolescents’ school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships (16–18). As a result of addiction, the user becomes highly engaged with online activities motivated by an uncontrollable desire to browse through social media pages and “devoting so much time and effort to it that it impairs other important life areas” (19)

People with social anxiety as well as people who have psychiatric disorders often find online interactions extremely appealing (27). The available literature also reveals that the use of social media is positively associated with being female, single, and having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or anxiety (28).

Results indicated that neurotic individuals use social media as a safe place for expressing their personality and meet belongingness needs. People affected by neurosis tend to use online social media to stay in touch with other people and feel better about their social lives (31). Narcissism is another factor that has been examined extensively when it comes to social media, and it has been found that people who are narcissistic are more likely to become addicted to social media (32). In this case users want to be seen and get “likes” from lots of other users

people easily compare their appearance to what they see on social media, and this might lead to low self-esteem if they feel they do not look as good as the people they are following. According to research in this domain, the extent to which an individual engages in photo-related activities (e.g., taking selfies, editing photos, checking other people’s photos) on social media is associated with negative body image concerns. Through curated online images of peers, adolescents face challenges to their self-esteem and sense of self-worth and are increasingly isolated from face-to-face interaction

the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) has been used by some scholars (41, 42). These scholars have used criteria from the DSM-V to describe one problematic social media use, internet gaming disorder, but such criteria could also be used to describe other types of social media disorders. Franchina et al. (43) and Scott and Woods (44), for example, focus their attention on individual-level factors (like fear of missing out) and family-level factors (like childhood abuse) that have been used to explain why people use social media in a harmful way.

Macro-level factors have also been suggested, such as the normalization of surveillance (46) and the ability to see what people are doing online (47). Gender and age seem to be highly associated to the ways people use social media negatively. Particularly among girls, social media use is consistently associated with mental health issues (41, 48, 49), an association more common among older girls than younger girls (46, 48).

the use of social media appears to have a variety of effects “on psychosocial adjustment during early adolescence, with high social media use being the most problematic.” It has been found that people who use social media in a harmful way are more likely to be depressed, anxious, have low self-esteem, be more socially isolated, have poorer sleep quality, and have more body image dissatisfaction. Furthermore, harmful social media use has been associated with unhealthy lifestyle patterns (for example, not getting enough exercise or having trouble managing daily obligations) as well as life threatening behaviors such as illicit drug use, excessive alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual practices

A growing body of research investigating social media use has revealed that the extensive use of social media platforms is correlated with a reduced performance on cognitive tasks and in mental effort (53). Overall, it appears that individuals who have a problematic relationship with social media or those who use social media more frequently are more likely to develop negative health conditions.

social media addiction can lead to stress levels rise, loneliness, and sadness (54). Anxiety is another common mental health problem associated with social media addiction. Studies have found that young adolescents who are addicted to social media are more likely to suffer from anxiety than people who are not addicted to social media (55). In addition, social media addiction can also lead to physical health problems, such as obesity and carpal tunnel syndrome a result of spending too much time on the computer (22).

The Return of Reason

“The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in the historic case EHT et al. v. the FCC that the December 2019 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to retain its 1996 safety limits for human exposure to wireless radiation was “arbitrary and capricious.” – Source

Prevailing safety assumptions are not evidence based.

Recognition is slowly dawning that exploiting children is outrageous.

Be on the right side of the right to a healthy, protected childhood, and safe technology.

Source: Safe Tech International