Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 1 of 36
`
`
`
`Laura Marquez-Garrett, SBN 221542
`laura@socialmediavictims.org
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER
`821 Second Avenue, Suite 2100
`Seattle, WA 98104
`Telephone:
`(206) 741-4862
`Facsimile:
`(206) 957-9549
`
`Attorneys for Plaintiff
`
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
`SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
`
`
`
`NO.
`
`COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL
`DEATH AND SURVIVORSHIP, AND
`FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE
`CALIFORNIA UNFAIR
`COMPETITION LAW, BUS. & PROF.
`CODE §§17200, ET. SEQ
`
`
`JURY DEMAND
`
`
`ASHLEIGH HEFFNER, individually and as the
`Personal Representative of the Estate of Liam
`Birchfield,
`
`
`
`
`
`META PLATFORMS, INC., formerly known
`as FACEBOOK, INC.; SNAP, INC.,
`
`
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`v.
`
`
`
`Defendants.
`
`In these digital public spaces, which are privately owned and tend to be run for profit,
`there can be tension between what’s best for the technology company and what’s best
`for the individual user or for society. Business models are often built around
`maximizing user engagement as opposed to safeguarding users’ health and ensuring
`that users engage with one another in safe and healthy ways. . . . Technology
`companies must step up and take responsibility for creating a safe digital environment
`for children and youth. Today, most companies are not transparent about the impact
`of their products, which prevents parents and young people from making informed
`decisions and researchers from identifying problems and solutions.
`
`Protecting Youth Mental Health, United States Surgeon General Advisory, December 7, 2021
`Plaintiff Ashleigh Heffner, individually and as the Personal Representative of the Estate of
`Liam Birchfield, brings this action against Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook,
`Inc. (“Meta”), doing business as Instagram (“Instagram”), and Snap, Inc., doing business as
`Snapchat (“Snapchat”), and alleges as follows:
`
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 1
`
`
`
`
`
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
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`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 2 of 36
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`I.
`INTRODUCTION
`1.
`This product liability action seeks to hold Defendants’ products responsible for
`causing and contributing to the burgeoning mental health crisis perpetrated upon the children and
`teenagers of the United States by Defendants and, specifically, for the wrongful death of 11-year-
`old Liam Birchfield caused by his addictive use of and exposure to Defendants’ unreasonably
`dangerous and defective social media products. On July 6, 2021, after struggling with the harmful
`effects of social media, Liam took his own life.
`2.
`Liam Birchfield’s death was a symptom of the current mental health crisis among
`American youth caused by social media. On December 7, 2021, the United States Surgeon General
`issued an advisory cataloging a dramatic increase in teen mental health crises including suicides,
`attempted suicides, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and inpatient admissions.
`Between 2007 and 2018, for example, suicide rates among youth ages twelve to sixteen in the U.S.
`increased a staggering 146 percent!
`3.
`The most significant and far-reaching change to the lives of young people during
`this period was the widespread adoption of mobile social media platforms, most prominently the
`Instagram and Snapchat products designed and distributed by Defendants. By 2014, 80 percent of
`high school students said they used a social media platform daily, and 24 percent said that they
`were online “almost constantly.” Millions of children and teenagers spend hours throughout the
`day and night using Defendants’ unreasonably dangerous and defective social media products.
`4.
`Peer reviewed studies and the available medical science have identified social
`media use associated with major mental health injuries among youth, including depression, self-
`harm, eating disorders, suicide attempts and ideation, dissatisfaction with life, depression, and
`sleep deprivation. Both large observational studies and experimental results point to the heavy use
`of Defendants’ social media products as a cause of increased depression, suicidal ideation, and
`sleep deprivation among minors.
`5.
`Defendants’ own research also points to their social media products as a cause of
`increased depression, suicidal ideation, sleep deprivation, and other serious harms. Meta
`researchers, for example, found that Instagram is “worse” than many competitor products and “is
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 2
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 3 of 36
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`seen as having the highest impact [on negative body and appearance comparison], and Snapchat
`isn’t far behind.”
`6.
`Defendants have invested billions of dollars to intentionally design and develop
`their products to encourage, enable, and push content to children and teenagers that Defendants
`know to be problematic and highly detrimental to their minor users’ mental health.
`7.
`Internal, non-public data collected by Instagram and Facebook reveal large
`numbers of its users are engaging in “problematic use” of its products. This problematic use
`identified in the medical literature is precisely the type of use Defendants have designed their
`products to encourage through psychological manipulation techniques—sometimes referred to as
`persuasive design—that is well-recognized to cause all the hallmarks of clinical addiction.
`8.
`Likewise, each of Defendants’ products contains unique product features which are
`intended to and do encourage addiction, and unlawful content and use of said products, to the
`detriment of Defendants’ minor users.
`9.
`Plaintiff brings claims of strict liability based upon Defendants’ defective design
`of their social media products that renders such products not reasonably safe for ordinary
`consumers in general and minor users in particular. It is technologically feasible to design social
`media products that substantially decrease both the incidence and magnitude of harm to minors
`arising from their foreseeable use of Defendants’ products with a negligible increase in production
`cost.
`
`10.
`Plaintiff also brings claims for strict liability based on Defendants’ failure to
`provide adequate warnings to minor users and their parents of the danger of mental, physical, and
`emotional harms and sexual abuse arising from foreseeable use of their social media products. The
`addictive quality of Defendants’ products and the impacts of their harmful algorithms are unknown
`to minor users and their parents.
`11.
`Plaintiff also brings claims for common law negligence arising from Defendants’
`unreasonably dangerous social media products and their failure to warn of such dangers.
`Defendants knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known, that their social media
`products were harmful to a significant percentage of their minor users and failed to redesign their
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 3
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 4 of 36
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`products to ameliorate these harms or warn minor users and their parents of dangers arising out of
`the foreseeable use of their products.
`12. Many of Defendants’ own former and/or current developers do not allow their own
`children and teenagers to use Defendants’ products. For many years, Defendants have had actual
`knowledge that their social media products are dangerous and harmful to children and teenagers,
`but actively concealed these facts from the general public and government regulators and failed to
`warn parents about this known harm for continued economic gain.
`13.
`Plaintiff brings claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal.
`Bus. & Prof. Code, §§17200, et seq. The conduct and omissions alleged herein constitute unlawful,
`unfair, and/or fraudulent business practices prohibited by the UCL.
`14.
`Finally, Plaintiff brings claims under 47 U.S.C. § 1595 based on Defendants’
`financial benefit derived from knowingly assisting, supporting, and facilitating the sexual
`solicitation and exploitation of Liam Birchfield and similarly situated children. Defendants have
`actual knowledge of, and knowingly benefit from, the large number of adult predators who
`regularly use Defendants’ platforms to solicit and groom minor users to engage in commercial sex
`acts with minors
`15.
`Defendants have actual knowledge that adult predators use their social media
`platforms to facilitate commercial sex acts, yet have purposefully failed to undertake reasonable
`efforts to redesign their social media products to protect minor users such as Liam Birchfield from
`sex abuse; failed to warn minor users and their parents that sexual predators are using their
`platforms to recruit minors to perform commercial sex acts; and failed to notify law enforcement
`despite knowledge of illegal sex acts performed on and through their platforms.
`II.
`PARTIES
`16.
`Plaintiff Ashleigh Heffner is an individual residing in Bluff City, Tennessee, and
`has been appointed the administrator of the Estate of her son Liam Birchfield, who died of suicide
`on July 6, 2021.
`17.
`Plaintiff Ashleigh Heffner has not entered into a User Agreement or other
`contractual relationship with any of the Defendants herein in connection with Liam Birchfield’s
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 4
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 5 of 36
`
`
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`use of their social media products. As such, in prosecuting this action Plaintiff is not bound by any
`arbitration, forum selection, choice of law, or class action waiver set forth in said User
`Agreements. Additionally, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Liam Birchfield, Plaintiff
`expressly disaffirms any and all User Agreements with Defendants that her son may have entered
`into.
`
`18.
`Defendant Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is a Delaware
`corporation with its principal place of business in Menlo Park, CA. Defendant Meta Platforms
`owns and operates the Instagram social media platform, an application that is widely available to
`users throughout the United States.
`19.
`Defendant Snap, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business
`in Santa Monica, CA. Defendant Snap owns and operates the Snapchat social media platform, an
`application that is widely marketed by Snap and available to users throughout the United States.
`III.
`JURISDICTION AND VENUE
`20.
`This Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)
`because the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000 and Plaintiff and Defendants are residents of
`different states. Venue is proper in this District under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2)
`21.
`This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants because they are each
`headquartered and have their principal place of business in the State of California. Venue is proper
`in this District under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(1) because Defendant Meta’s principal place of business
`is in the Northern District of California and Defendant Snap, Inc. is a resident of the State of
`California.
`
`IV. DIVISIONAL ASSIGNMENT
`22.
`The case is properly assigned to the San Francisco Division pursuant to Civ. L. R.
`3-2(c)–(d) because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to Plaintiff’s claims
`occurred in San Mateo County, where Defendant Meta Platforms, Inc. maintains its primary place
`of business.
`
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 5
`
`
`
`
`
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
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`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 6 of 36
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`V.
`
`FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
`
`A. Meta Background
`23.
`Facebook is an American online social network service that is part of the
`Defendant Meta Platforms. Facebook was founded in 2004 and became the largest social network
`in the world, with nearly three billion users as of 2021, and about half that number were using
`Facebook every day. The company’s headquarters are in Menlo Park, California.
`24.
`Instagram is a photo sharing social media application that originally enabled users
`to post and share photos that could be seen by other users who “follow” the user. A user’s followers
`could “like” and post comments on the photos. Instagram was purchased by Facebook, Inc. for
`approximately $1 billion in 2012.
`25.
`Facebook recently changed its name to, and is referred to herein and collectively
`with Instagram, as Meta.
`26.
`A user’s “feed” is comprised of a series of photos and videos posted by accounts
`that the user follows, along with advertising and content specifically selected and promoted by
`Instagram. Meta exerts control over a user’s Instagram “feed,” including through certain ranking
`mechanisms, escalation loops, and/or promotion of advertising and content specifically selected
`and promoted by Meta based on, among other things, its ongoing planning, assessment, and
`prioritization of the types of information most likely to increase user engagement. In the case of
`minor users, this translates to Meta’s deliberate and repeated promotion of harmful and unhealthy
`content, which Meta knows or has reason to know is causing harm to its minor users.
`27.
`Instagram also features a “discover” feature where a user is shown an endless feed
`of content that is selected by an algorithm designed by Meta based upon the users’ demographics
`and prior activity in the application. Meta has designed its product in a manner such that it
`promotes addictive use and harmful and/or unhealthy content. Meta is aware of these inherently
`dangerous product features and has repeatedly decided against changing them and/or
`implementing readily available and relatively inexpensive safety measures, for the stated purpose
`of ensuring continued growth, engagement, and revenue.
`28.
`Users’ profiles on Instagram may be public or private. On public profiles, any user
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 6
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 7 of 36
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`is able to view the photos, videos, and other content posted by the user. On private profiles, the
`users’ content may only be viewed by the user’s followers, which the user is able to approve.
`During the relevant period, Instagram profiles were public by default and Instagram allowed all
`users to message and send follow request to underage users, including Liam Birchfield.
`29.
`Defaulting profiles to public served no critical purpose in terms of product
`functionality and/or a user’s ability to access content. Instead, this product feature increased user
`engagement during onboarding (when a user first starts using Instagram) by increasing user
`connections. However, Meta also has actual knowledge that harmful and/or undesirable, even
`dangerous, contacts could be made through this public setting feature, particularly for users under
`the age of 18, including Liam Birchfield.
`30.
`During the last five years, Instagram has added features and promoted the use of
`short videos and temporary posts. The latter are referred to as “Reels” while the former is referred
`to as Instagram “Stories.”
`31.
`Instagram creates images and GIFs for users to incorporate into their videos and
`picture postings. Instagram has also acquired publishing rights to thousands of hours of music
`which it provides to its users to attach to the videos and pictures that they post on Instagram. These
`GIFs, images, and music supplied and created by Instagram frequently make a material
`contribution to the creation or development of its users’ Instagram posts. Indeed, in many cases,
`the only content in a user’s Instagram post is the image, GIF, or music supplied by Instagram.
`When users’ GIFs and music supplied by Instagram make a material contribution to the creation
`and/or development of its users’ postings, Instagram becomes a co-publisher of such content.
`These GIFs, images, and music created by Instagram frequently enhance the psychic harm and
`defamatory sting that minor users experience from malign third-party postings on Defendant’s
`platform.
`32.
`Based on individualized data collected from their users’ social media habits, the
`social media activity of users’ friends and cohorts, and surreptitious monitoring of users online
`and offline, Instagram independently selects content for its users and notifies them of such content
`through text and email. Instagram’s notifications to individual users are specifically designed to
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 7
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 8 of 36
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`and do prompt users to open Instagram and view the content selected by Instagram which increases
`the users’ screen time and resulting profits to Instagram.
`33. Meta has developed artificial intelligence technology that detects adult users of
`Instagram who both send sexually explicit content to children and receive sexually explicit images
`from children. This technology furnishes Meta with actual knowledge that a significant number of
`minor users of Instagram are solicited to send, and actually do send, sexually explicit photos and
`videos of themselves to adult users in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1)-(2).
`34.
`Over time, Instagram has become the most popular photo sharing social media
`platform amongst teenagers and young adults in the United States, with over 57 million users
`below the age of eighteen—meaning that 72 percent of America’s youth use Instagram.
`Instagram’s president Adam Mosseri testified under oath on December 8, 2021, that Instagram is
`not addictive. This is untrue.
`B.
`Snapchat Background
`35.
`Snapchat is a photo and short video sharing social media application that allows
`users to form groups and share posts or “Snaps” that disappear after being viewed by the recipients.
`The Snapchat product is well-known for its self-destructing content feature. Specifically, the
`Snapchat product allows users to form groups and share posts or “Snaps” that disappear after being
`viewed by the recipients.
`36.
`Snapchat’s self-destructing content design feature is specifically intended to appeal
`to minor users by evading parents’ ability to monitor their children’s social media activity and
`thwart the exercise of their parental responsibility. Snapchat’s self-destructing content design
`feature permits minor users to exchange harmful, illegal, and sexually explicit images with adults
`and provides sexual predators with a safe and efficient vehicle to recruit victims.
`37.
`Snapchat also features a series of rewards including trophies, streaks, and other
`signals of social recognition similar to the “likes” metrics available across other platforms. These
`features are designed to encourage users to share their videos and posts with the public. Snapchat
`designed these features to be addictive, and they are. Users also have an “Explore” feed that
`displays content created by other users around the world. All of these product features are designed
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 8
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 9 of 36
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`to grab and keep users’ attention for as long as possible each day, and have led many people, from
`psychologists to government officials, to describe Snapchat as “dangerously addictive.” Snapchat
`was founded in 2011 by current president and CEO Evan Spiegel and several other co-founders
`while they were attending Stanford University.
`38.
`In 2014, Snapchat added “Stories” and “Chat” features that allowed users to post
`longer stories that could be viewed by users outside the user’s friends. In 2014, Snapchat also
`released a feature called Snapcash that allowed users to send money to other users without regard
`to user age, identify verification, and/or parental consent.
`39.
`Snapchat allows users to enable the sharing of their location, through a tool called
`Snap Map, which allows the users’ followers (and the public for Snaps submitted by the users) to
`see the user’s location on a map. This feature is available to all users, including minors.
`40.
`Snapchat has developed images for users to decorate the pictures or videos they
`post. Snapchat has also developed Lenses which are augmented reality-based special effects and
`sounds for users to apply to pictures and videos they post on Snapchat, and World Lenses to
`augment the environment around posts. Snapchat also has acquired publication rights to music,
`audio, and video content that its users can incorporate in the pictures and videos they post on
`Snapchat.
`41.
`These images, Lenses, and licensed audio and video content supplied and created
`by Snapchat frequently make a material contribution to the creation or development of the user’s
`Snapchat posts. Indeed, in many cases, the only content in a user’s Snapchat post are images,
`Lenses, and licensed audio and video content supplied and created by Snapchat. When users
`incorporate images, Lenses, music, audio, and video content supplied by Snapchat posts, Snapchat
`makes a material contribution to the creation and/or development of their Snapchat postings and
`becomes a co-publisher of such content. When malign users incorporate images, Lenses, music,
`audio, and video content supplied by Snapchat to their posts, this enhances the psychic harm and
`defamatory sting that minor users experience from third-party postings on Defendant’s platform.
`42.
`By 2015, Snapchat had over 75 million monthly active users and was considered
`to be the most popular social media application amongst American teenagers in terms of number
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 9
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 10 of 36
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`of users and time spent using the platform.
`43.
`Snap has developed artificial intelligence technology that detects adult users of
`Snapchat who send sexually explicit content to children and receive sexually explicit images from
`children. This technology furnishes Snap with actual knowledge that a significant number of minor
`users of Snapchat are solicited to send, and actually do send, sexually explicit photos and videos
`of themselves to adult users in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1)-(2).
`C.
`Defendants’ Applications Are Products
`44.
`Instagram and Snapchat are products that are designed and manufactured by Meta
`and Snap, respectively. These products are designed to be used by children and are actively
`marketed to children throughout the world.
`45.
`Defendants’ products are designed to be used by minors and are actively marketed
`to minors across the United States. Defendants market to minors through their own marketing
`efforts and design. But also, Defendants work with and actively encourage advertisers to create
`ads targeted at and appealing to teens, and even to children under the age of 13. Defendants spend
`millions of dollars researching, analyzing, and experimenting with young children to find ways to
`make their products more appealing and addictive to these age groups, as these age groups are
`seen as the key to Defendants’ long-term profitability and market dominance.
`46.
`Defendants are aware that large numbers of children under the age of 18 use their
`products without parental consent. They design their products in a manner that allows and/or does
`not prevent such use to increase user engagement and, thereby, their own profits.
`47.
`Defendants are aware that large numbers of children under the age of 13 use their
`products despite user terms or “community standards” that purport to restrict use to individuals
`who are 13 and older. They have designed their products in a manner that allows and/or does not
`prevent such use to increase user engagement and, thereby, their own profits.
`D.
`Defendants’ Business Model is Based on Maximizing User Screen Time
`48.
`Defendants advertise their products as “free,” because they do not charge their users
`for downloading or using their products. What many users do not know is that, in fact, Defendants
`make a profit by finding unique and increasingly dangerous ways to capture user attention and
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 10
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 11 of 36
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`target advertisements to their users. Defendants receive revenue from advertisers who pay a
`premium to target advertisements to specific demographic groups of users in the applications.
`Defendants also receive revenue from selling their users’ data to third parties.
`49.
`The amount of revenue Defendants receive is based upon the amount of time and
`level of user engagement on their platforms, which directly correlates with the number of
`advertisements that can be shown to each user.
`50.
`Defendants use unknown and changing rewards that are designed to prompt users
`who consume their social media products in excessive and dangerous ways. Defendants know, or
`in the exercise of ordinary care should know, that their designs have created extreme and addictive
`usage by their minor users, and Defendants knowingly or purposefully designed its products to
`encourage such addictive behaviors. For example, all the achievements and trophies in Snapchat
`are unknown to users. The Company has stated that “[y]ou don’t even know about the achievement
`until you unlock it.” This design conforms to well-established principles of operant conditioning
`wherein intermittent reinforcement provides the most reliable tool to maintain a desired behavior
`over time.
`51.
`This design is akin to a slot machine but marketed toward minor users who are even
`more susceptible than gambling addicts to the variable reward and reminder system designed by
`Snapchat. The system is designed to reward increasingly extreme behavior because users are not
`actually aware of what action will unlock the next award.
`52.
`Instagram, like Snapchat, is designed around a series of features that do not add to
`the communication utility of the application, but instead seek to exploit minor users’ susceptibility
`to persuasive design and unlimited accumulation of unpredictable and uncertain rewards,
`including “likes” and “followers.” In the hands of children, this design is unreasonably dangerous
`to the mental well-being of underage users’ developing minds.
`53.
`According to industry insiders, Defendants have employed thousands of
`psychologists and engineers to help make their products maximally addicting. For example,
`Instagram’s “pull to refresh” is based on how slot machines operate. It creates an endless feed,
`designed to manipulate brain chemistry, and prevent natural end points that would otherwise
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 11
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 12 of 36
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`encourage users to move on to other activities.
`54.
`Defendant do not warn users of the addictive design of their product. On the
`contrary, Defendants actively try to conceal the dangerous and addictive nature of their products,
`lulling users and parents into a false sense of security. This includes consistently playing down
`their products’ negative effects on teens in public statements and advertising, making false or
`materially misleading statements concerning product safety, and refusing to make their research
`public or available to academics or lawmakers who have asked for it.
`55.
`For example, in or around July 2018, Meta told BBC News that “at no stage does
`wanting something to be addictive factor into” its product design process. Similarly, Meta told
`U.S. Senators in November 2020 that “We certainly do not want our products to be addictive.”
`Yet, Meta product managers and designers attend an annual conference held in Silicon Valley
`called the Habit Summit, the primary purpose of which is to learn how to make products more
`habit-forming.
`56.
`Defendants engineer their products to keep users, and particularly young users,
`engaged longer and coming back for more. This is referred to as “engineered addiction,” and
`examples include features like bottomless scrolling, tagging, notifications, and live stories.
`57.
`Internal Meta documents identify the potential of reduction in usage by their minor
`users as an “existential threat” to their business and spend billions of dollars per year marketing
`their products to minors. Defendants have deliberately traded in user harm to protect the revenue
`stream their products generate.
`E.
`Defendants Have Designed Complex Algorithms to Addict Teen Users.
`58.
`Defendants have intentionally designed their products to maximize users’ screen
`time, using complex algorithms designed to exploit human psychology and driven by the most
`advanced computer algorithms and artificial intelligence available to three of the largest
`technology companies in the world.
`59.
`Defendants’ algorithms select content for minor users not based on what they
`anticipate the user will prefer or to enhance their social media experience, but rather for the express
`purpose of habituating users to the Defendants’ social media products. Defendants’ algorithms do
`SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
` COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
`
`AND SURVIVORSHIP - 12
`821 2ND AVENUE, SUITE 2100
`SEATTLE, WA 98104
`TELEPHONE: 206.741.4862
`
`
`
`

`

`Case 3:22-cv-03849-SK Document 1 Filed 06/29/22 Page 13 of 36
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`not provide a neutral platform but rather specify and prompt the type of content to be submitted
`and determine particular types of content its algorithms promote.
`60.
`Defendants designed and have progressively modified their products to promote
`problematic and excessive use that they know is indicative of addictive and self-destructive use.
`61.
`One of these features—present in Snapchat and Instagram—is the use of complex
`algorithms to select and promote content that is provided to users in an unlimited and never-ending
`“feed.” Defendants are well aware that algorithm-controlled feeds promote unlimited
`“scrolling”—a type of use those studies have identified as