Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and author of “The Anxious Generation,” says mounting concerns over social media’s impact on children have hit a “turning point.”
Speaking Thursday on FOX Business’ “The Big Money Show,” Haidt pointed to a closely watched social media trial, citing internal Meta communications in which employees described Instagram as “a drug” and acknowledged they were “basically pushers.”
“What we learned is that the companies really behaved abominably,” Haidt said. “Congress created the problem, and now I’m thrilled to see tweets and statements from senators and congressmen [from] both parties saying, ‘We’ve got to do something about this.'”
Haidt said the recent jury verdict could mark the beginning of a much larger wave of litigation.
“We believe that there are literally millions of victims,” Haidt said. “Hundreds of kids are dead.”
With “millions of potential plaintiffs,” he warned, the financial consequences for tech companies could be enormous.
“I think we’re looking at a giant case of karma coming for these companies,” Haidt said. “They were able to exploit kids for decades and now their deeds are catching up with them.”
He argued the crisis was shaped in part by decades-old policy decisions.
Haidt pointed to laws like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability, and federal rules that allow companies to collect data from users who simply claim to be over 13.
However, public awareness is shifting, driven in part by recent jury verdicts and policy changes abroad, according to Haidt.
“We are at a turning point,” he said. “There is now a global understanding that this stuff is just wildly inappropriate for children.”
On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable in a case accusing the companies of designing addictive products for young users, awarding the plaintiff $6 million in damages.
Google and Meta both told FOX Business they plan to appeal the verdict.
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In a separate case, a New Mexico jury on Tuesday ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company misled users about platform safety and allegedly enabled child sexual exploitation.
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Meanwhile, Australia implemented a landmark law in December banning users under 16 from having social media accounts, one of the strictest online safety measures globally.
“We parents can’t deal with this on our own,” Haidt said. “We’re all having the same fight with our kids.”
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr, Louis Casiano and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
