Families say social media put their kids in danger | 60 Minutes Archive
In a Nutshell
Parents are suing social media companies including Meta, claiming Instagram's algorithms and lack of age verification drove their children into eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide by recommending dangerous content. Internal Facebook documents showed the company knew Instagram made one-third of teen girls feel worse about their bodies and pushed vulnerable users toward anorexia and self-harm material. The families demand age verification, disabled algorithms directing kids to harmful content, and parental warnings, arguing platforms prioritize profits over child safety.
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When whistleblower Frances Haugen released thousands of pages of internal Facebook documents in fall 2021, the documents revealed troubling signs that the social media giant knew its platforms could negatively impact youth and were doing little to effectively change it. With around 21 million American adolescents on social media, parents took note. Today, there are more than 1,200 families pursuing lawsuits against social media companies, including TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Roblox, and Meta, the parent company to Instagram and Facebook. More than 150 lawsuits will be moving forward next year.
The content in this story is alarming, but it was included because parents say the posts impacted their kids' mental health and in some cases helped lead to the death of their children.
"They're holding our children hostage and they're seeking and preying on them."
The Spence family is suing social media giant Meta. Kathleen and Jeff Spence say Instagram led their daughter Alexis into depression and to an eating disorder at the age of 12.
"We realized that we were slowly losing her. We really had no comprehension to how severe social media had affected our daughter. She was being drawn into this hidden space and this dark world."
The Spences, both middle school teachers from Long Island, New York, gave 11-year-old Alexis a cell phone to keep in touch with them after school. They had very strict rules including keeping the phone in the hall at night and checking the phone with restrictions.
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