Judge Dismisses Personal Claims Against Meta’s Zuckerberg

Meta Platforms chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is not personally liable in two dozen lawsuits accusing the company and other social media firms of addicting children to their products, a US federal judge has found.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found a revised complaint was not legally sufficient to proceed on the grounds that Zuckerberg had personally directed Meta’s efforts to conceal the serious mental health risks for children of using Facebook and Instagram.

The plaintiffs called Zuckerberg the “guiding spirit” behind alleged concealment and said he ignored repeated warnings about risks and publicly downplayed such issues.

Judge Rogers dismissed Zuckerberg as an individual defendant, without affecting claims against Meta as a company.

Personal liability

She found a lack of specific information and said “control of corporate activity alone is insufficient” to establish liability.

The claims were brought under the laws of 13 US states: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

It is generally difficult to hold chief executives of large companies personally responsible due to corporate law structures that shield executives from liability.

““While possible that discovery may reveal a more active participation and direction by Zuckerberg in Meta’s alleged fraudulent concealment, the allegations before the court are insufficient to meet the standard for corporate-officer liability,” Rogers wrote in her decision.

Child safety

Previn Warren, a partner at law firm Motley Rice representing plaintiffs, said his clients would continue gathering evidence “to uncover the truth about how Big Tech has knowingly prioritised profits over the safety of our children”.

The 25 lawsuits are a subset of several hundred filed on behalf of young people seeking damages from Meta, Google, ByteDance’s TikTok and Snap’s Snapchat over social media addiction.

Dozens of US state attorneys general are pursuing claims against Meta that link its platforms to anxiety, depression, insomnia and other harms.