Meta and its platforms, Instagram and Facebook, are facing a class-action lawsuit in Australia over allegations that their design encourages addictive behaviour and creates harmful dependencies among children.
Eight people filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court of Australia, the country’s second-highest court, seeking compensation for exposure to harmful content or social media addiction they experienced before turning 18, law firm MinterEllison said in a statement on Wednesday.
The case could be the first lawsuit in Australia to hold social media platforms responsible for the harmful effects of their services on users, particularly children and teenagers.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Sydney-based court issued an order on Monday prohibiting the disclosure of details about the proceedings or the identities of the class-action plaintiffs, according to court documents.
In August, Meta agreed to pay just over $17 billion in the United States to settle a lawsuit that accused the American company of deliberately designing its platforms to encourage addiction among young users.
The Australian case comes amid growing tensions between the government and major technology companies following the country’s world-first ban on social media use by children under 16. The government has also recently proposed rules that would allow users to disable algorithmic feeds.
(Source: AMNA)
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