CNN and EdSurge Interview Joseph McNally on Social Media Addiction Trial
EdSurge and CNN interviewed Joseph McNally, Director of Emerging Litigation, about lawsuits arising against social media companies, alleging that the companies deliberately design their apps to be addictive to young users, causing mental health harm and interfering with their education, all in pursuit of profit.
McNally notes that Meta claims the content, not the app, causes social media addiction, while plaintiffs maintain that platform features, such as Instagram’s algorithm, are responsible for addiction. Additionally, he notes that this marks the beginning of a lengthy legal battle for those pursuing litigation against social media companies. McNally says these lawsuits could be for today’s kids what tobacco litigation was in his childhood — a landmark legal battle over companies accused of ignoring harm.
“I think there’s a lot of parallels in that the outcome (in the social media trials) very much may change behavior in terms of how people approach social media,” McNally said to CNN.
Read the EdSurge article here.
