- Meta alone has 2.9 billion registered users worldwide.
- Regarding Instagram, it has 1.4 billion people around the planet.
- In addition to promoting stress and anxiety, social networks are accused of being responsible for several suicides.
Social networks have seen a radical transformation over the last few years. They are now the main form of communication around the world and more and more people use these channels. But behind the success there is also a dark side because it is accused that some like Instagram and Meta harm mental health.
Now, although you may think that social networks are a recent invention, in reality, they are not. The first foundations began at the end of World War II and it was proposed to create a new path of exclusive communication between military personnel. Shortly after, higher education institutions were included and for decades it was a private medium to which very few had access.
With the expansion of the Internet, it was possible to democratize communication and make this type of innovation available to more people. With this in mind, in 1997 the site was founded SixDegrees. Its function was to demonstrate that all the people in the world are related to each other with a maximum distance of six degrees. At the time of its launch it was a commercial failure but today it is considered the formal beginning of modern social networks.
Then came other options that at the time had a great heyday such as MySpace, Metroflog and Hi5. In all cases, they were spaces with a passing popularity and after a few years their power began to decline until they were completely forgotten.
Everything changed in 2004 with the launch of Facebook, today known as Meta. Although the original idea was to be a closed virtual space exclusively for university students, its impact was so great that after a few years it was available to everyone. It now has 2.9 billion registered people and is the undisputed leader worldwide.
But behind its success there are several complaints that accuse it of harming users. What is mentioned is that the company prioritizes its economic profits over the well-being of people. In addition, it is accused that the owners are aware of the power of the social network and have not acted to offer a solution.
Several complaints have already been filed in the past and now one more has been released. In this case the association Social Media Victims Law Center filed a lawsuit against Meta, Snapchat and TikTok before the Los Angeles Supreme Court for their negative impact on people’s mental health.
The argument is quite similar to that of the previous complaints because it is accused that these Social networks promote mental health disorders among adolescents. In addition, it is emphasized that the companies are aware and have not done anything to offer a solution. They prefer to prioritize their economic growth instead of the security of their users.
In this case the accusations are even greater because as a result of problems such as stress and anxiety it is mentioned that these social networks are guilty of several cases of suicide. While now it is up to the Los Angeles authorities to analyze and issue a final verdict.
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