Meta Removes Law Firm Ads Seeking Social Media Addiction Claimants
Meta Cracks Down on Lawsuit Recruitment Ads
Meta has confirmed it is actively removing advertisements placed by law firms on its social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. These adverts aimed to recruit individuals for potential lawsuits alleging harm from social media addiction. The technology giant stated, "We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful."
The action comes in the wake of significant legal setbacks for Meta. Notably, a Californian court recently awarded a young woman £4.5m in damages after she successfully sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood social media addiction. Additionally, a New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay £279m for misleading users about child safety on its platforms, citing dangers from explicit material and predators.
Emily Jeffcott, an attorney for Morgan & Morgan, one of the firms affected by Meta's decision, criticised the move as "another example of Meta trying to control the narrative and avoid accountability." She argued that resources spent blocking these ads would be better directed towards improving user safety and implementing tools to reduce problematic use and detect underage users. Despite Meta's efforts, some of these recruitment adverts reportedly remained active on Meta's Ad Library as of Friday.
Meta's advertising standards permit the removal of ads that "negatively affect our relationship with our users or that promote content, services or activities contrary to our competitive position, interests or advertising philosophy." Meta has indicated it plans to appeal the verdicts of the recent US cases, disagreeing with the outcomes.
