Mark Zuckerberg-run Meta on Thursday began removing hundreds of ads from Facebook and Instagram that trial lawyers and marketing outfits have been using to recruit plaintiffs against the tech giant, according to reports.
The ads had been designed to find users of Meta products to join the growing number of lawsuits targeting the social-media giant.
The crackdown, detailed in an Axios report, comes after a series of courtroom setbacks for Meta.
Last month, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harms to kids using their services.
And in New Mexico, Meta was found liable for knowingly causing harm to children’s mental health and concealing what it knew about child sexual abuse on its platforms.
The verdicts, which brought penalties in the millions, were seen as bellwethers that could open the floodgates to similar suits.
Meta and Google already faced thousands of pending lawsuits across federal and state courts, as well as proposals for legislative crackdowns like the Kids Online Safety Act.
Several more trials are planned for this year, including an upcoming federal case in Oakland, where a school district will argue that the platforms harm their students.
The bevy of pending lawsuits, filed by both individuals and school districts, broadly claim social media companies intentionally designed their apps to addict young users, causing mental-health problems like depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies and body dysmorphia.
Social media’s wide reach has made it one of the main sources for finding potential plaintiffs in big personal-injury cases. Some 3.5 billion people use Meta’s apps daily.
“We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,” Meta has told news outlets. “We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.”
Meta didn’t respond to a Post request for comment.
Plaintiffs’ firms have been blanketing TV, billboards, and social media to sign up clients for big-money cases.
The potential pool of plaintiffs is broad. Eligible individuals could include those who used social media before age 18, spent at least three hours a day on the platforms and can document mental health challenges.
Morgan & Morgan, the largest personal-injury law firm in the United States, ran an ad inviting users to complete a quiz to determine eligibility, according to the Wall Street Journal. Another spot featured a young woman making an influencer-style post and detailing how viewers could assess whether they qualify to join litigation and seek compensation.
Yet another advertisement showed contrasting images of a child playing outdoors and later sitting alone in a dark room using a phone.
