261 The Families Suing Social Media Over the Teen Mental Health Crisis

INFLUENCE

Alexis was a typical 11-year-old. She loved musical theater and Webkinz. But when she started using Instagram, her normal pre-teen curiosities triggered the social media app to flood her feed with content about anorexia and how to hide eating disorders from your parents. Over the next few years, Alexis' mental health deteriorated so much that she had to be hospitalized. Some families aren't so lucky.

Teen suicide rates have skyrocketed since 2007, and some research has begun to correlate that with the rise of algorithmic, for-profit social media. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become central to teenagers social lives, and it's probably not an accident.

Today, Alexis Spence has made a full recovery from her eating disorder, and with her mom Kathleen, has become an advocate for social media reform, especially through legal action. Alli and Lindsey talk with them, along with their lawyer, Matt Bergman, who co-founded the Social Media Victims Law Center. When suing Meta on behalf of families, his legal approach comes from product liability: If tech companies know their products are addictive and harmful to children and choose not to address that, they should be held accountable.

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