Attorneys are seeking clients who have been harmed by social media by advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta has removed ads from attorneys across the US seeking clients in social media litigation cases on its platforms.
This comes after a California court found the social media giant’s platforms were addictive by design.
Both Meta and YouTube were ordered to pay $3m in damages to plaintiff Kaley G.M who argued that social media use as a child contributed to anxiety, depression, and mental health problems.
The landmark case marks the first of over 20 ‘bellwether’ cases which are used to gauge juries’ reactions and to set a legal precedent. Over 10,000 individual cases and around 800 school district claims are currently pending worldwide, the Spencer Law Firm confirmed.
Lawyers are looking to build as many cases as possible. National law firms such as Morgan & Morgan, and Sokolove Law have run ads to help identify potential plaintiffs, but many of these ads have been removed by Meta, Axios reported.
The ads, which ran on both Instagram and Facebook, were also found on Messenger, Threads, and within Meta’s Audience Network, which sends ads out to thousands of third-party sites.
One ad read: “Anxiety. Depression. Withdrawal. Self-harm. These aren’t just teenage phases — they’re symptoms linked to social media addiction in children. Platforms knew this and kept targeting kids anyway.”
To remove the ads, Meta is relying on its terms of service, which it stated: We also can remove or restrict access to content, features, services, or information if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate misuse of our services or adverse legal or regulatory impacts to Meta.”
A Meta spokesperson told Axios: “We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.”
Affiliate Leaders has reached out to Meta, but is yet to receive a response.
