Social media case puts tech leaders under the microscope for harms against children

LOS ANGELES (BP) – A court case over social media’s addictive properties is the first in a series in the coming months, fueling discussions over technology’s proper place in society and parental responsibilities for hedging its influence. “K.G.M.” is a young woman among many suing several social media companies. She claims that watching YouTube from the time she was 6 and having accounts with Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok by 14 led to her addiction and bouts of physical and emotional harm. Snap, which owns Snapchat, and TikTok settled in January. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified last week, pushing back against claims that Instagram was intentionally harmful to children. The case that brought several school districts as fellow plaintiffs points to internal documents that include Meta researchers referring to Instagram as “a drug … we’re basically pushers” and a TikTok report stating that “minors do not have executive mental function to control their screen time.” Snapchat executives said users have an “addiction [with] no room for anything else.” Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, whose book “The Anxious Generation” has become an oft-cited work for student ministry leaders, addressed the case on a recent podcast. “There’s never a consumer product that hurts so many kids
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