Parents were right, social media is addictive and there’s proof now. Recently there was a lawsuit filed against Meta’s Instagram, TikTok and Google’s Youtube due to their platforms being designed to cause children to become addicted.

In late January a 19 year old girl going by the name of KGM filed a lawsuit on three social media platforms after suffering the effects of their harmful algorithms and content. KGM claims that her use of these apps created an addiction to social media and technology from a young age. She also claims that the addiction created harmful effects on her mental health such at depression, body dismorphia, self harm and suicidal thoughts.

Shortly after the surfacing of the lawsuit, KGM was compensated by TikTok. The details on the settlement are still undisclosed. As of now there are no further details on the progress with the other companies in regards to the lawsuit.

The potential success of this lawsuit could open up many doors for others in similar situations to be compensated. There are now hundreds of parents and school districts that are beginning trials in regards to addiction to social media.

This also might bring much more awareness to the situation of these platforms using immoral tactics in order to make money. Social media sites have been using AI driven personalized content feeds to make the videos and pictures on people’s feeds more engaging for the specific person. There are no limits to scrolling and consuming content which makes it easy for children to spend more time on the apps.

AI algorithms have become more common for social media platforms to use in order to grab the attention of their viewers. This can lead to addiction, especially in adolescents. Children are also being exposed to harmful or inappropriate content on these platforms.
This lawsuit might mean big changes in the media industry. More attention to the situation could cause large repercussions for these social media platforms that would require them to reshape their apps. It might be easier for these companies to change the problems in their apps rather than have to deal with each future lawsuit.
Alongside changes in social media, laws are changing regarding social media usage. Numerous states have begun implementing age restrictions on social media in order to keep children under 16, one of the main groups targeted by addictive algorithms, off of social media. Such changes could be detrimental to social media platforms making money. Over 30 percent of social media users are under the age of 18, so these companies rely on having younger users.

This single lawsuit initiated by KGM could be the start of a much larger movement against social media and its harmful tactics. Washington is currently in the process of pushing for better online safety for minors including limits on addictive algorithms, mandated parental consent and restriction on late night push notifications.