ATLANTA — Meta is on trial in California over allegations that the social media company targeted and addicted young users, and the outcome could impact a pending case in Georgia.
Georgia is one of 29 states suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over allegations that the company hooked young people on its platforms, harvested their data and failed to provide basic protections.
The Georgia case mirrors the trial currently underway in California. Other social media companies are also being sued over allegations that they designed their platforms to target young people, collect data and hide those practices from the public.
Dr. Allison Lopilato, a child psychologist at Emory, says some of the behaviors associated with social media use are similar to those seen with substance abuse.
“We don’t have a psychiatric diagnosis for social media addiction yet, we absolutely see the same kinds of problematic compulsive behaviors when it comes to social media,” Lopilato said.
Lopilato says the way people respond to rewards can also play a role in their social media use.
“Our brains are always thinking about what the next reward might be, and that is how things on your phone and social media have you on constant alert checking to see, and that’s part of the way to hook you in,” Lopilato said.
Lopilato stresses that not all social media use is bad but encourages parents to monitor their children’s phone use and have conversations with them about the risks.
She says those conversations should be approached in a way that does not make children defensive or cause them to hide their activities.
“I’m not looking to instantly pull this away, I’m trying to understand use from your perspective and make sure we’re in a good place about it,” Lopilato said.
Meta says it is constantly working to maintain and improve safeguards and insists it works to make its platforms safe spaces.
If Meta is found liable, damages could potentially reach billions of dollars.
Other social media platforms are also facing lawsuits over similar practices and allegations of insufficient safeguards.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Graham Carroll contributed to this story.