A U.S. Federal court ruled yesterday that social media companies cannot claim blanket protection under the First Amendment Act or Section 230 against certain lawsuits accusing them of triggering addiction in children to their platforms. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Snap (NYSE:SNAP), and Chinese company ByteDance claimed that they are immune to any content published on their platforms under the two mentioned provisions.
Social Media Companies Face Legal Pressure
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, ruled against a motion by the aforementioned social media companies to dismiss the lawsuits. Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube, Snap’s Snapchat, and ByteDance’s TikTok come under the purview of the ruling.
Over 140 school districts have filed dozens of child addiction complaints against the tech giants. The lawsuits cite the adverse effects on children’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being due to the excessive usage of social media platforms.
The plaintiffs are suing the companies, claiming damages as well as a stoppage to the platform’s alleged addictive practices. Importantly, Rogers pointed out certain defects on social media platforms, like insufficient safety practices, including parental control, the lack of “robust” valid age verification methods, and a tough account deletion procedure.
With this backdrop in mind, we used TipRanks’ Stock Comparison Tool to place Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Snap against each other to find the most attractive social media stock, as per Wall Street analysts.
