Donna Dawley joined a growing group of parents suing social media platforms for injuries caused by deliberately addictive algorithms that can cause depression and suicide.
A mother whose teenage son died by suicide is suing Meta Platforms Inc., owner of Facebook and Instagram, and Snap, Inc., owner of Snapchat, for the wrongful death of her son.
In a complaint filed last week, Donna Dawley of Kenosha, Wisconsin, alleged the social media companies deliberately designed their algorithms to addict people, particularly minors and children, to their platforms and to limit parents’ ability to monitor and protect their children online.
Christopher James Dawley, known as CJ to his friends and family, was 14 when he signed up for Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Like many teenagers, he documented his life on those platforms.
CJ worked as a busboy at Texas Roadhouse in Kenosha. He loved playing golf and watching “Doctor Who” and was highly sought after by top-tier colleges.
“His counselor said he could get a free ride anywhere he wanted to go,” his mother told CNN Business.
During high school, CJ developed what his parents described as “an addiction to social media.”
By his senior year, “he couldn’t stop looking at his phone,” Dawley said.
“He often stayed up until 3 a.m. on Instagram messaging with others, sometimes swapping nude photos. He became sleep-deprived and obsessed with his body image,” she said.
According to his family’s lawsuit, CJ’s addiction spiraled until:
“On January 4, 2015, while his family was taking down their Christmas tree and decorations, CJ went to his room. He sent a text message to his best friend — ‘God’s speed’ — and posted an update to his Facebook page: ‘Who turned out the light?’
“CJ held a 22-caliber rifle in one hand, his smartphone in the other and fatally shot himself. He was 17… His parents said he never showed outward signs of depression or suicidal ideation.
“‘When we found him, his phone was still on, still in his hand, with blood on it,’ Donna Dawley said. ‘He was so addicted to it that even his last moments of his life were about posting on social media.’”
Dawley told CNN she and her husband, Chris, believe CJ’s mental health suffered as a direct result of the addictive nature of the platforms.
They said they were motivated to file the lawsuit against Meta and Snap after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked hundreds of internal documents — including some showing the company was aware of the ways Instagram can damage mental health and body image.
Algorithms designed to addict
The Dawley suit alleges the algorithms of Facebook and Snapchat are “deliberately designed to get people, particularly minors and children, addicted, and they fail to warn parents of the dangers while limiting parents’ ability to monitor and protect their children online.”
The complaint states:
“The algorithms in Defendants’ social media products exploit minor users’ diminished decision-making capacity, impulse control, emotional maturity, and psychological resiliency caused by users’ incomplete brain development.”
“The complaint asserts the social media giants failed to design their products with any protections to “account for and ameliorate the psychosocial immaturity of their minor users.”
This latest lawsuit joins a growing number of suits filed against social media companies, alleging harm against minors in the wake of Haugen’s revelations of Facebook’s deliberate manipulation of user content to encourage addiction to its platform.
Inspired by Haugen’s new evidence, Matthew Bergman, the Dawleys’ lawyer, formed the Social Media Victims Law Center. He now represents 20 families who filed wrongful death lawsuits against social media companies.
“[These cases] center around strict product liability and design defect by the manufacturers. Specifically, Meta Platforms and Snap failed to: provide adequate safeguards from harmful and exploitive content; verify minor users’ age and identity; adequate parental control and monitoring; protect minor users from intentionally being directed to harmful and exploitive content; offer protection for minor users from being sexually exploited and abused; design non-addictive social media products; and provide adequate notification to parents about the dangerous and problematic usage of social media by minor users.”
Bergman told CNN in the video portion of the coverage, “This is very much cutting-edge litigation as we are only now learning exactly what these algorithms are.”
A dangerous product, not free speech
The Dawley suit explicitly seeks to head off any free-speech defense by the platforms, asserting the legal issue is not the intellectual content of any third parties using the platform, but the product itself, specifically its addiction-generating algorithms:
“Defendants’ product features are designed to be and are addictive and harmful in themselves, without regard to any content that may exist on Defendants’ platform. For example, Meta’s “like” feature and Snapchat’s “Snapstreaks” [which facilitate ‘endless scrolling’] are content neutral.
“None of Plaintiff’s claims rely on treating Defendants as the publisher or speaker of any third party’s words or content. Plaintiff’s claims seek to hold Defendants accountable for their own allegedly wrongful acts and omissions, not for the speech of others or for Defendants’ good faith attempts to restrict access to objectionable content.”
The suit also alleges Facebook and Snapchat deliberately designed their platforms to make parental oversight more difficult and failed to adequately warn parents of the dangers.
According to the filing, Facebook and Snapchat “stated in public comments that their products are not addictive and were not designed to be addictive,” even though they knew, or should have known, the statements to be untrue.
In addition, “neither Meta or Snap warned users or their parents of the addictive and mentally harmful effects that the use of their products was known to cause amongst minor users, like Decedent CJ Dawley.”
On the contrary, the companies went to significant lengths “to conceal and/or avoid disclosure as to the true nature of their products.”
146% increase in suicide among teens correlated with social media use
Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bergman’s Center points out that between 2007 and 2018, there was a 146% increase in suicide among children between the ages of 12 and 16.
During Senate hearings in October 2021, lawmakers on both sides weighed in regarding their concern about the risk to minors posed by social media algorithms.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, (R-Tenn.), accused Facebook of intentionally targeting children under 13 with an “addictive” product — despite the app requiring that users be 13 years or older.
“It is clear that Facebook prioritizes profit over the well-being of children and all users,” Blackburn said.
Subcommittee Chair Richard Blumenthal, (D-Conn.), echoed Blackburn’s criticisms:
“Facebook exploited teens using powerful algorithms that amplified their insecurities. I hope we will discuss as to whether there is such a thing as a safe algorithm.”
John Handley, political scientist and blogger at Medium.com, last year said, “The direction of causality has not been firmly established yet, but the fact that a huge spike in teen suicide and depression coincides with the expansion of social media, and that social media use correlates strongly with depression (especially for girls) is extremely concerning.”
Not about the money
“Money is not what is driving Donna and Chris Dawley to file this case and re-live the unimaginable loss they sustained,” Bergman told CNN.
“The only way,” he said, “to force [social media companies] to change their dangerous-but-highly-profitable algorithms is to change their economic calculus by making them pay the true costs their dangerous products have inflicted on families such as the Dawleys.”
He added:
“When faced with similar instances of outrageous misconduct by product manufacturers, juries have awarded tens of millions of dollars in compensatory damages and imposed billion-dollar punitive damage awards. I have every reason to anticipate a jury, after fairly evaluating all the evidence, could render a similar judgment in this case.”
According to the Dawley court filing, just before he shot himself, CJ handwrote the following message to his family on the envelope that contained his college acceptance letter:
“I don’t want you to think this is at all your fault. It’s not. I’m f****d up. You showed me love and family. I wish I didn’t have to do this to you guys. I love you all more than the world. It’s hard to be a person right now. And I wish I believed in God. If God does exist, he will have to beg for my forgiveness.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me. What goes on inside my head scares me. I tried to be a good person. It’s just as I am yelling in a dark tunnel running after the light so I can be happy.
“But my legs are tired and what’s a man to do when the lights go out. Tell my friends thank you for the friendship and support and I love them with all my being. I tried.”
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Terrible.
It sounds like this was a deeply troubled person.
Social media certainly didn’t help his clear mental illness.
His parents have no chance of prevailing against Tech Leviathan no matter
their culpability.
The fully corrupt congress who depend on Tech Leviathan to silence
their critics will crush these already heartbroken parents.
The evil is everywhere now.
“The evil is everywhere now.” I don’t think I’ve heard a more concise sentence to sum up what’s going on in the USA today and other parts of the world. You hit the nail on the head with that sentence!
When The Disney Company actively supports the sexual grooming of third-graders…. yeah, I think you could say that evil is everywhere.
What is it with y’all up there in Kenosha, huh?
This smacks of a hit-piece, with the objective being to show how we need more internet policing. They feed you this sob story which doesn’t make a lick of sense: How is this woman going to prove, in court, that these algorithms are “addictive?” I guess they have support groups for this, like Algorithms Anonymous, or some miracle anti-depressant pill made just for algorithm addicts?
Actually, they probably do have a pill for that. Or one in the making.
Anyway, these two words should let you know how fake this story is: KENOSHA and CNN. (His age, too, supposedly: 17. Hmm.)
Agree. Ask Miles Mathis to do a writeup on this.
Miles would have a field day with just this: CJ held a 22-caliber rifle in one hand, his smartphone in the other and fatally shot himself. Then, allegedly, he still had his phone in-hand when they found him. Still recording I would presume.
While you’re still trying to figure that scene in your head, also consider how impossible it would be to shoot yourself with a .22 rifle, at a close enough range to be fatal, and hold your phone while you record the whole ordeal — then still somehow be able to hold onto said phone once your lifeless body hits the ground.
It sounds like they’ve done a Kurt Cobain here, with a twist or two.
“…It sounds like they’ve done a Kurt Cobain here…”
Courtney Hole killed the teenager from Kenosha too? Why that evil conniving bitch…
Mile Mathis would somehow work George Custer into the plot.
But the quote from the suicide envelope “You showed me love and family.” does seem like some sort of a clue pointing to Courtney, and maybe Charles Manson and his family and all.
Is Lenosha near The Little Big Horn? I bet Stevie Nicks is involved.
The shrinks, and of course lawyers, make a good living off this particular malady.
“Transference and Denial”.
It is never my fault at all, and it is always someone elses responsibility.
By his senior year, “he couldn’t stop looking at his phone,”
Walt’s father would have taken a hammer to it, well before it had become such an obvious problem.
Back in the day, that was what was referred to as a ‘teaching moment’. Such opportunities for improvement were rarely missed, if ever.
The fact that he had a device that gave him unlimited connection to the internet (without supervision?) at the age of 14 is likely the problem. (Assuming the story is true, which isn’t unlikely. It’s a virtual certainty that his parents bought it for him and paid the monthly charges. That parents do this sort of thing, and don’t imagine that all sorts of problems will arise is incomprehensible.
The dangers of electronic tech, and social media in particular, are themselves incomprehensible.
Thanks for posting this, AP.
It’s a tune I haven’t heard in a long time.
Know it well, from the time I was really into Dire Straits in younger years,
and like the beat. I had forgotten about it, since it’s rarely played on radio.
Good memories rekindled.
Looks to me more like soy and feminism killed her son.
Well they do have the videos of that co Facebook inventor telling they designed it that way and he won’t let his kids use it.
Truth stream media has an older excellent video on it.
how about she be sued or better yet charged for allowing these demonic companies unfettered access to her child?
and if she truly believes they murdered her child and the courts won’t do anything then she could pay them a “special visit”, but she won’t
Unfortunately this is what you get in a society where mom and dad are paranoid. Kids should be playing outside, climbing trees(maybe break an arm), riding bikes, sports, fishing, hunting(dad shows them how to kill something to eat), camping, creative hobbies, maybe some church, even raising some hell, you know heathy stuff for youngsters. There are no guarantees they’ll be okay but they have a better chance.
The way things are now, get them a cell phone, a vidiot game and let them raise themselves in their rooms under the safe, watchful and trusted eye of social media, texting and internet. I mean really, what could go wrong there?
Cell phones are handed out to kids like candy so mom can be in a contact 24/7. Personally, I think they do more harm than good for school aged kids.
Yes, this is a sad tale, but it has a very high “meh” factor.
Crap like this has been going on for a long time.
My Father is still alive, but I lost him to television loong before I was ever born.
When the EMP hits, we’ll lose almost everybody for one thing or another.
Having said all that…I can’t help but wonder how many likes or upvotes he got….
It’s too bad this kid’s parents did not love him enough to take his phone away when they found out he was up until 0300 posting.
I’m with Walt. My Dad was the hammer and all too often he saw me as a nail
Be honest now…
…am I the only one who thinks of a samurai sword every time I see a skinny dude with a long neck like this?
“He often stayed up until 3 a.m. on Instagram messaging with others, sometimes swapping nude photos. There are a lot of things you don’t know about me. What goes on inside my head scares me.”
Tell me why you killed yourself without telling me why you killed yourself.
May as well sue the Internet provider or the electric company.
I wonder why anyone would be scared of what goes on in their own head?
Thank you for leading me down the Kahzarian rabbit hole. The reads have been enlightening. Hope you are still enjoying your vacation.
Good luck with that lawsuit. Algorithms are highly protected copyrights and you will never be a le to prove the code caused this. His own brain caused it because his weak-ass parents did not see a problem with it at the time.
Depression always has signs of symptoms. Parents just were not paying attention. First ding is staying up till 3 am. 2nd ding is always staring at his phone. 3rd ding is the look at the fucken kid: posterboy for soy.
The parents should blame their selves all the way to court because they will lose. They wont be able to pull the shit that other parents do against firearms manufacturers because media is their new god and does the devil’s work for the state.
Now maybe the boy had a legitimate neurotransmitter issues or chemical imbalance that could be exacerbated by dopamine laced addiction from social media interaction, but honestly, how could and parent with half a fucken ounce of pride and honesty think that suing a social media company is going to do anything to assuage their guilt of missing the signs of their kid putting a pill in his dome?
Signs are always there. Look fucken harder you sorry shit parental units. Raising a child isnt a fucken weekend retreat. Kids need rigidity and structure and that family just reeks of not taking any responsibility for that child being in a shit state of mind that led to him offing himself. Maybe he was aware he was corrupted and non-salvageable.
Suicide is a right in some cultures. Others it is a sin. Suicide is the single most individual choice a person can make and I feel for anyone that has been involved with suicide or attempted suicide. You will hear all the usual shit about how selfish the person was and blah fucken blah. The person is dead or trying to be dead. Maybe their is some time to reflect upon one’s self to see what drove them to that aside from an addictive algorithm.
People commit suicide for the noblest of reasons and thw dumbest of reasons. My money is on something the parents are hiding and case in point would be swapping nudies and their own statement of addiction by their son that they admit to.
He looks like he is probably one of the alphabet mafia members, he played golf and watched Doctor fucken Who which has been poisoned with white male hatred for years now and if you think there were algos that failbook and dicksnapchat and instagag used to make him suicidal the you are a fucken nippleless tit and useless as fuck as a person.
Parents need to fucken parent and kids need to be paid attention to for they do stupid, impulsive things.
May as well sue the company that made the gun too. Fuck self responsibility. Seems to be the American way now: no responsibility for the situation.
ZFG, out.
Correlation is not causation.
Good luck with the grooming platform takedown in court. Better off with flamethrowers and emp devices.