Big Tech is facing Big Tobacco's moment of reckoning
– United States Senator, Richard Blumenthal
Two of America’s leading law firms have joined forces to fight for victims harmed by the dangers of social media.
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky and DiCello Levitt have nearly 100 lawyers between their two firms, and have achieved over $20 billion of collective verdicts and settlements for injured victims. Saltz Mongeluzzi and DiCello Levitt focus their practices on representing victims in wrongful death cases, class actions, as well as privacy, technology, and cybersecurity cases.
Fighting “Big Tech” requires an army with a proven track record of results. Our results speak for themselves.
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Verdicts and Settlements $1.5 Billion for Consumers who were Victims of Massive Data Breach
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- Verdicts and Settlements $160 Million Settlement for the Victims of the Feltonville Food Truck Explosion Read Story
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Verdicts and Settlements $150 Million+ Settlement for Victims in a Major Transportation Disaster
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Verdicts and Settlements $135 Million Class Action for Victims of Defective MaxxForce Engines
- Verdicts and Settlements $124 Million Verdict against Rafael Robb, the former University of Pennsylvania economics professor who killed his estranged wife. Read Story
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Verdicts and Settlements $90 Million Settlements against Facebook in Privacy Class Action Involving Secret Internet Tracking
Adolescents using devices 5 or more hours a day (vs. 1 hour) were 66% more likely to have at least one suicide related outcome.
Twenge, Joiner, Rogers and Martin, Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among U.S. adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time., 2018
We now have markets that trade in human futures at scale, and those markets have produced the trillions of dollars that have made the Internet companies the richest companies in the history of humanity.
Shoshana Zuboff, Charles Edward Wilson Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School, The Social Dilemma, 2021
Contemporary machine learning tools have the growing capacity not only to predict choices but also to influence emotions and thoughts and alter an anticipated course of action, sometimes subliminally.
Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on the manipulative capabilities of algorithmic processes, 13 February 2019
Teenagers and young adults are exposed to new ideas, trends and viewpoints through social media like no previous generation …. In addition, teens and young adults often are unable to appreciate the risks of their behavior and are easily influenced by their peers.
KeriAnne B. Brady, M.D., FAAP, ‘Benadryl Challenge’: What pediatricians need to know, November 9, 2020
Rates of major depressive episode … increased 52% 2005–2017 among adolescents aged 12 to 17 and 63% 2009 –2017 among young adults 18–25.
Twenge, Cooper, Joiner, et al, Age, period, and cohort trends in mood disorder indicators and suicide-related outcomes in a nationally representative dataset, 2005–2017, 2019
Social media has become pervasive and persuasive in our lives.
An old fairy tale tells the story of a little girl who loves her new red shoes, but the shoes are cursed. When the little girl makes some poor choices, the shoes begin to control her. The cursed red shoes force the little girl to dance continually, eventually leading to her death. Social media is our red shoes.
Our entire lives can now be watched, recorded, and controlled by tech platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. That control is leading to the harm, self-harm, and even death of our children and loved ones. If you have been harmed by social media, we may be able to help you stand up to the people and companies that have hurt you.
These tech giants design and implement complex, self-learning algorithms to monitor every aspect of our lives from our activities, connections, and location, to our preferences, and even our mood. They feed us images, videos, and articles that their algorithms have calculated will keep us engaged and active on their platform for as long as possible in order to maximize their profits.
But they do not stop at monitoring. They select the content that you see, and they nudge you toward behaviors that will keep you under their control. Armed with a vast knowledge of your habits and preferences, social media platforms can push you to act in a certain way, and there are few safeguards to stop them.
Our youth are at risk
Pre-teens, teens, and young adults, are particularly susceptible to the behavior modification effects and harms of social media. Physically, brains do not fully develop to handle rational thought until the mid-20s, which means that young people are physiologically more prone to impulsive actions. They have also been exposed to social media and technology more than any prior generation.
Since social media emerged around 2011, it has been linked to increased rates of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, body dismorphia, and suicide. A study by the American Psychological Association found that after 2010, there was a substantial increase in major depression or suicidal thoughts, psychological distress, and attempted suicides. The greatest increases were seen in adolescents and young adults, and the biggest spike was in 2011, when social media emerged.
There have also been numerous reports of physical injuries and deaths caused by people imitating actions or following instructions that they have seen on social media, such as the Blackout Challenge.
As lawyers, digital citizens, and parents, we want to disrupt the hold that social media has over our society and especially our young people. We want to help people who have been harmed by social media to obtain justice, and hold the tech giants accountable for the damage they are causing to our lives and our families. If you or a loved one has suffered a physical or mental injury as a result of social media use, contact us to find out how we can help you.
Are you concerned about harm or self-harm caused by social media?
If you are concerned that your child or loved one has been harmed or is at risk of harm from social media, you are not alone. There are people and organizations that can give you information, support, and help.