Meta Platforms Inc., TikTok Inc., Snap Inc., and YouTube LLC appear unlikely to completely knock out a group of federal cases set for trial this summer that allege the platforms harmed the mental health of students and strained school resources. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers at a marathon hearing Monday in Oakland, Calif., federal court said the public school districts have provided a "reasonable articulation" of how social media features like SnapChat's "streaks" or Instagram's beautification image filter cause specific harm to students and schools.
The following allegations against Meta come from the brief filed in an unprecedented multidistrict litigation. More than 1,800 plaintiffs - including children and parents, school districts, and state attorneys general - have joined together in a suit alleging that the parent companies behind Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube "relentlessly pursued a strategy of growth at all costs, recklessly ignoring the impact of their products on children's mental and physical health," according to their master complaint.