Two lawsuits were filed this week accusing Instagram parent company Meta of causing and contributing to the growing mental health crisis among children and adolescents in the United States. Candace Wuest and her daughter Cece live in Independence, Kentucky. Both are plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits filed Monday. Cece first started using Instagram when she was 12 years old. Her mother said the app was used as a way to communicate when she spent weekends with her father. According to the lawsuit, the two would use Instagram to find “delicious recipes” to cook together. The lawsuit says that at some point the content Cece was exposed to changed from “delicious recipes to healthy recipes to dangerous recipes.” There were even recipes designed to achieve negative caloric intake. Cece eventually developed an eating disorder. “She had no idea that she was exposed to some of the things that she was exposed to. None at all,” she said Candace. The lawsuit alleges “Cece’s use of Instagram became a dependency on the Instagram product and coincided with a steady but severe decline in her mental health.” Like I don’t feel like myself,” Cece said. Candace says some of the most damaging posts she’s seen on the platform are very artistically shaped. She’s like, ‘I know I have to die,'” Candace says. Cece suffered from bradycardia and had to be hospitalized, which eventually led to her staying in a rehab center in North Carolina. A push that is designed to take advantage of the fact that their brains are not fully developed and that they will become more addicted to things over time, the more outrageous the behavior,” said Matthew Bergman, one of the attorneys representing The Wuests. The Wuests are not alone in their experience. Ben and Jennifer Martin of Georgetown, KY, also filed a lawsuit Monday. After joining Instagram, their daughter Alexandra became anorexic and bulimic and attempted suicide twice. The Martins began noticing changes in their daughter in 2016. The lawsuit states: “Her exercise routine became more and more extreme. At the same time, he began to eat less.” According to the lawsuit, he began to lie about what he ate and began to lose weight rapidly. In December 2016, he ended up in the emergency room with heart failure. His lawsuit alleges that “Meta created a “perfect storm” of addiction, social comparison, and exposure to incredibly harmful product content and features, then operated its algorithms to push and promote harmful content.” The lawsuits include several pages of documents that Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen published last year and which she says shows Facebook knew the damage it was causing with its content. We reached out to Meta for comment but have not heard back.
Two lawsuits were filed this week accusing Instagram parent company Meta of causing and contributing to the growing mental health crisis among children and adolescents in the United States.
Candace Wuest and her daughter Cece live in Independence, Kentucky. Both are plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits filed Monday.
Cece first started using Instagram when she was 12 years old. Her mother said the app was used as a way to communicate when she spent weekends with her father.
According to the lawsuit, the two would use Instagram to find “delicious recipes” to cook together. The lawsuit says that at some point the content Cece was exposed to changed from “delicious recipes to healthy recipes to dangerous recipes.” There were even recipes designed to achieve a negative caloric intake.
Cece eventually developed an eating disorder.
“I had no idea that she was exposed to some of the things she was exposed to. None at all,” Candace said.
The lawsuit alleges that “Cece’s use of Instagram became a dependency on the Instagram product and coincided with a steady but severe deterioration in her mental health.”
“The stuff I was watching made me feel like I was fat. I felt like I wasn’t worthy. Like I just didn’t feel like myself,” Cece said.
Candace says that some of the most damaging posts she’s seen on the platform are very artistic in form.
“Things like very aesthetic black and white photos of children with marker written on their hands that say ‘I know I must die,'” Candace said.
Cece suffered from bradycardia and had to be hospitalized, which eventually led to her staying in a rehab center in North Carolina.
“The lawsuit is about a product that is designed to make children addicted. A product that is designed to take advantage of the fact that their brains are not fully developed and will become more addicted to things over time, the more outrageous the behavior. is,” said Matthew Bergman, one of the attorneys representing the Wuests.
The Wuests are not alone in their experience. Ben and Jennifer Martin of Georgetown, KY also filed a lawsuit Monday.
After joining Instagram, her daughter Alexandra became anorexic and bulimic and attempted suicide twice.
The Martins began noticing changes in their daughter in 2016. The lawsuit says, “Her exercise routine became more and more extreme. At the same time, she began to eat less.”
According to the lawsuit, he began lying about what he ate and began to lose weight rapidly. In December 2016, she ended up in the emergency room with heart failure.
Their lawsuit alleges that “Meta created a ‘perfect storm’ of addiction, social comparison, and exposure to incredibly harmful content and product features, then operated its algorithms to push and promote harmful content.”
The lawsuits include several pages of documents that Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen published last year that she says show Facebook knew the damage it was causing with its content.
We reached out to Meta for comment, but have not received a response.