A Montreal man is launching a class-action lawsuit against the parent companies of several social media platforms, alleging they are too addictive and cause harm.
The defendants named in the lawsuit include Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms, as well as the owners of TikTok, YouTube and Reddit.
The Montreal law firm Lambert Avocats is arguing that the platforms’ specific design to increase dopamine secretion causes users to get addicted to the platforms and has negative effects on their mental health and self-esteem.
The main plaintiff is a 24-year-old man who began using social media in 2015 and alleged he experienced blows to his productivity and body image. He used social media apps for up to four hours daily but has since reduced his time to roughly two hours, according to the class-action suit.
“He still finds that it has an effect on his productivity and his sleep,” said Philippe Brault, an intern at Lambert, in an interview.
A judge must authorize the lawsuit before it can proceed.
Brault says many people have contacted the firm since the class action was made public on Monday. The firm was eager to take on the lawsuit because it feels this is an ever-growing problem.
“In 2024, it’s estimated that humanity as a whole will be using social media for a total of 500 million years,” Braultadded. “That just goes to show that it’s not a problem for a certain number of individuals, it’s a widespread problem for everyone.”
Philippe Brault is with the Lambert Avocats law firm, based in Montreal. (CTV News)
The lawsuit claims that platform creators were intentionally negligent in creating platforms meant to make users dependent on them.
The firm and plaintiff feel that the owners are responsible for ensuring that the users’ health and safety remain a top priority, especially for kids. According to Brault, 52 per cent of kids aged seven to 11 in Canada use social media.
“They’re focused on profit. They’re not focused on benefitting broader society,” said London, Ont.-based tech analyst Carmi Levy in an interview with CTV News. “Even though they understand that their tools are causing issues in mental health among their users, they do nothing to stop it.”
Platforms have argued in the past that usage is entirely voluntary, and anybody experiencing adverse effects can simply limit their usage time or delete the apps.
However, Emma Duerden, assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University, does not believe it is that simple due to the quantities of dopamine the brain releases when using social media apps.
“We know that children can be highly motivated by rewards, and teens can often engage in lots of risk-taking behaviour,” said Duerden, also a Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders. “There’s this mismatch between the reward systems, which are very active, and the other parts of our brain, which are responsible for putting the brakes on those reward systems and only become really developed in our 20s and 30s.”
She also feels that the lack of filters and restrictions on social media leaves a lot of content that children and teens should not be seeing, which can increase stress levels.
Duerden is also concerned about what children and teens are not doing while spending so much time on social media apps, such as “interacting with others, playing sports. All those things are really important for healthy brain development,” Duerden added, noting the consequences sometimes only appear in adulthood.
Lambert Avocats is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
“We’re also looking to get this message out there by talking to the media,” Brault added. “People have to understand the risks to the use of social media.”
Google, Meta, and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment from CTV News.