Will a landmark US social media addiction case trigger platform redesign

A jury in the United States has found Meta and Google liable in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit. RMIT experts comment on whether this decision will see a change in the way social media companies design their apps to make them less addictive.

Dr Dana McKay, Associate Dean, Interaction, Technology and Information

"Many industries have been required to make changes to their products to reduce negative social impacts: lower emissions for cars, warnings on alcohol bottles, and changes to cigarette formulation to make them less addictive.

"This change has now come to social media platforms, for the addictiveness of the algorithms their platforms use.

"This is not about the content these algorithms serve up, rather the ways they serve it up, which is designed to keep us engaged, and have now been found to be harmfully addictive. 

"This means that algorithms will need to change. We are likely to see an end to infinite scroll (which has already been mooted in the EU) to nudge us to disengage. 

"We might also see changes in the ways engagement works, including less focus on likes and shares, and less promotion of highly emotive or inflammatory content.

"In any case, we might all hope that this lawsuit is the end of a long history of technological determinism, and the beginning of a time where another large industry must take responsibility for the harms it causes."

Dr Dana McKay is an Associate Dean, Interaction, Technology and Information in the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University. Her research focuses on ensuring advances in digital information technologies make the world a fairer and more equitable place. 

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Lisa Given, Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences

"This decision is a ground-breaking development in the global push to keep children - and other users - safe in online environments. It is a decision that will have far-reaching impact on social media platforms and other technology companies.

"What makes this lawsuit unique is that it's the first successful case to argue that technology companies should be held accountable for platform design, including the features that deliver content to users.

"While Google and Meta are considering appeals, one key question - if the finding is upheld - is whether the penalty of the judgment will be significant enough to force technology companies to change their design practices.

"Regardless, this outcome will likely influence the thousands of other lawsuits pending in the United States alone, setting an important precedent for future cases."

Lisa Given is a Professor of Information Sciences at RMIT University. She is director of RMIT's Centre for Human-AI Information Environments and the Social Change Enabling Impact Platform.

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