The Washington Post (8/5, Nix ) reports, “A minor from New York on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Meta, alleging that the social media giant sought to keep teens hooked on Instagram while knowingly exposing them to harmful content.” Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit “argues that Meta implemented features its leaders knew would make Instagram addicting for teens, such as displaying counts of how many ‘likes’ posts receive, even as internal evidence grew that the service could harm their mental health.” The plaintiff “is seeking $5 billion in damages, to be shared among eligible Instagram users if the suit is certified as a class action.” The filing “adds to a growing swarm of suits against the company from state attorneys general and school districts aiming to tie America’s teen mental health crisis to social media.”
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