At the age of 12, Taylor Little found themselves trapped by a relentless addiction to social media. For years, this addiction wreaked havoc on their life, leading to suicide attempts and a prolonged battle with depression. Now 21, Taylor is determined to hold the tech giants accountable, referring to them as “big, bad monsters.”
Taylor believes that these tech companies knowingly place highly addictive and detrimental products in the hands of children. Alongside hundreds of American families, Taylor is pursuing a lawsuit against four of the world’s largest tech firms: Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Google, and Snap Inc (owner of Snapchat). This lawsuit, one of Silicon Valley’s largest ever, alleges that these platforms are designed to be harmful.
The plaintiffs in this case include ordinary families and school districts from across the United States. They argue that these tech platforms are inherently dangerous due to their design.
One crucial example cited in the lawsuit is the case of 14-year-old British schoolgirl Molly Russell, whose tragic story serves as a stark reminder of the potential harms teenagers face. The lawyers representing the families closely followed the inquest into Molly’s death, searching for evidence that could strengthen their case in the United States.
Molly’s name appears multiple times in the complaint submitted to the California court. Recently, the families in this case received a significant victory when a federal judge ruled that the tech companies could not use the First Amendment, which safeguards freedom of speech, to block the lawsuit. This decision has given these families renewed hope in their fight against the tech giants.