Social media suicide lawsuit overview:
- Who: Snapchat and TikTok are facing a lawsuit claiming the platforms caused the death of a 12-year-old Georgia girl, according to Law360.
- Why: The social media sites targeted her with explicit ads and interrupted her sleep schedule, which led to severe anxiety and depression, Law360 reports the social media lawsuit says.
- Where: The Snapchat lawsuit was filed in state court in Los Angeles County, California.
Snapchat and TikTok are facing a lawsuit claiming that their social media sites fed a 12-year-old Georgia girl explicit ads and interrupted her sleep, leading to severe anxiety and depression and causing her death by suicide, according to Law360.
Breezy Carter began using TikTok and Snapchat at age 10, the website reported her mother, Beverly Garland, said in the lawsuit. Garland made Breezy delete the app but Snapchat allowed her to simply create a new account, Law360 said the Snapchat lawsuit claims.
Garland says her daughter had a sharp decline in mental health that coincided with her use of TikTok and Snapchat, leading to her death by suicide, the TikTok lawsuit claims.
“The resulting and foreseeable sleep deprivation led to severe anxiety and depression, and other serious mental health harms that Breezy did not experience prior to when her use of defendants’ platforms began,” Law360 said the social media lawsuit says.
Those dangers were known to Snapchat and TikTok but nothing was done, the website says the lawsuit claims.
12-year-old was sent harmful content she did not seek out, lawsuit says
The social media sites used artificial intelligence-based user recommendation tools and feed-based tools to send harmful social comparison content and explicit content that was not accessible for a parent to monitor, the social media suicide lawsuit claims, according to Law360.
Carter did not seek out the disturbing material; instead, the social media platforms sent the material to her unsolicited, the TikTok lawsuit claims.
Two House Republicans recently asked TikTok, Alibaba, Shein and other companies based in China for more information about their efforts to protect data privacy and security, the sale of counterfeit goods and potential human rights violations on their various platforms.
Have you been negatively impacted by social media interactions? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Laura Marquez-Garrett, Sydney Lottes, Mathew Bergman and Glenn Draper of the Social Media Victims Law Center.
The social media suicide lawsuit is Garland v. Snap Inc., et al., Case No. 24SMCV00011, in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
One thought on Snapchat, Tiktok lawsuit claims social media platforms responsible for girl’s suicide
add me