ADVOCATING IN TALLAHASSEE FOR YOU

Maher Law Firm Shareholder—and father of two—Matthew Mokwa headed to the State Capitol to testify before the Florida House of Representatives in a continued effort to protect school-aged children from the harmful effects of social media. Attorney Mokwa is one of the attorneys leading the charge on behalf of Florida school boards to hold Meta and other mega social media companies responsible.

TESTIMONY DETAILS

Attorney Mokwa testified before the Florida House of Representatives Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee. The Florida legislature is exploring increased regulation against the social media companies to protect our children. Mr. Mokwa was invited by the Committee and its chairman Representative Sirois to discuss the pending litigation against the social media companies.

Attorney Mokwa testified alongside several renowned professors and experts in teenage mental health. All of the experts agreed that social media was addictive and was having a profound negative impact on our children.

WHAT ARE THE LAWSUITS ABOUT?

The lawsuits do not challenge the content that is published on these platforms; they allege that the features within the platforms are defective or negligently designed, and are particularly harmful to minor children. They also allege that these platforms are designed to addict children—the most vulnerable population to the tricks being used.

There are 3 types of cases currently pending against social media companies. First, 42 of the 50 Attorneys General have sued Meta, including Florida. These AG cases are consolidated in what’s called a multi-district litigation. The second type of case is what The Maher Law Firm is involved with—school boards suing social media. And the last type are individual cases, where children have been injured by social media, whether it’s addiction, eating disorders, self-harm or even suicide.

THE MAHER LAW FIRM'S SUCCESSFUL HISTORY

The social media litigation shares a lot of similarities with the Tobacco, JUUL and Opioid cases, all of which dealt with addiction, improper marketing to a venerable population and a national health epidemic that did not have an easy solution.

In the social media context, it is largely undisputed that there is a mental health crisis facing our youth that is being exacerbated by social media. It is also evident that the major tech companies knew their products were contributing to the problem and instead of looking for solutions chose to monetize the vulnerabilities of our youth. There are several key pieces of evidence that support this:

Meta Whistleblower Frances Haugen: Ms. Haugen testified before Congress on Oct. 5, 2021, stating that Facebook/Meta identified psychological vulnerabilities and hired teams to exploit those vulnerabilities through technology-driven behavioral manipulation. A 2018 internal presentation stated, "Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness. If left unchecked [Facebook would feed users] more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention and increase time on the platform."

The Wall Street Journal "Facebook Files”: On September 13, 2021, The Wall Street Journal began publishing articles based on leaked internal Facebook documents. Internal documents showed that, since at least 2019, Meta has known: (i) 13.5% of teen girls on Instagram say the platform makes thoughts of "suicide and self-injury" worse; (ii) 17% of teen girl Instagram users say the platform makes "eating issues" worse; and (iii) the company stated: "We make body image issues worse for 1 in 3 teen girls."

LAWSUIT UPDATES

MDL consolidation ordered on October 6, 2022 [Northern District of California; Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers] [This is a federal court consolidation]

JCCP consolidation ordered on December 16, 2022 [Los Angeles County Superior Court; Judge Carolyn Kuhl] [This is a California state court consolidation]

October 13, 2023 - JCCP Order on Motion to Dismiss (89 pages)

November 14, 2023 - MDL Order on Motion to Dismiss (52 pages)

November 22, 2023 - Unredacted AG Complaint was filed (32)

WATCH THE TESTIMONY

To watch Attorney Mokwa and others present before Florida House of Representatives Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee, CLICK HERE.