Memphis Attorney for Social Media and Eating Disorder Lawsuit

Social Media and Eating Disorder Lawsuit: What You Need to Know

Our Memphis law firm is pursuing a social media and eating disorder lawsuit. If your child has developed an eating disorder or dangerous dieting habits, it may come as a surprise that social media might be at fault. Tragically, though, that’s exactly what’s happening to families everywhere.

We are speaking with anyone 23 or younger and their families who’ve been led by social media into eating disorders and needed treatment.

Here’s what you need to know, and what you can do if your child has been affected:

How Social Media Encourages Eating Disorders

Based on our research and the testimony of former workers, social media contributes to eating disorders and low self-esteem—especially for young girls.

It does this in three main ways:

1) perpetuating negative body image and disordered eating behaviors
2) providing a platform for the validation and promotion of these behaviors, and
3) preventing adult supervision or regulation

The results have led children into dangerous battles against anorexia, bulimia, and other life-threatening eating disorders.

Social Comparison and Body Images Issues

Unsurprisingly, platforms like Instagram and Snapchat can hurt kids’ self-esteem. They feature images of extremely thin people and encourage users to compare their own bodies to those unrealistic standards.

Celebrities—who’ve often undergone a variety of surgeries—show off their re-built bodies through skin-altering filters. Peers compete for the best-looking beach bodies. Influencers promote beauty hacks and cures.

On top of that, the abusive and bullying nature of private messaging leads some children to be harassed for their looks, not only by their classmates but by strangers all over the internet.

Companies like Instagram have known about this dynamic for years. They’ve discussed it in their research and internal meetings. However, they’ve chosen not to change some of the most abusive parts of the app—including the deluge of private messages some kids receive about their bodies.

Algorithms Give Children Eating Disorder Advice

Social media can also be a platform for pro-eating disorder communities to form, which can provide a sense of validation and support for disordered eating behaviors. If a child feels tempted toward eating disorders, social media may help push them over the edge.

For example, children can use the apps to look up specific advice about disordered eating, including how to hide the behavior. In fact, Instagram allows minors to use specific hashtags to find #thinspiration or #fitspiration accounts, and other more extreme examples.

But it gets worse: Instagram has actually admitted they actively promoted eating disorder and extreme dieting content to children. When a Senate team set up a fake account for a 13-year-old girl, they were shocked to find Instagram recommended her accounts with names like “I have to be thin,” “Eternally starved,” and “I want to be perfect.”

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, found that Facebook and Instagram were fully aware their sites provided harmful and toxic material to children. They even admit that “social comparison is worse on Instagram” because of its focus on image. And yet the material can still be found on their sites.

The Sites Help Lock Parents Out

If all of that wasn’t enough, the platforms also provide children with videos about hiding eating disorders and search histories from your parents. These accounts literally teach kids how to harm their own bodies and make sure their families don’t find out until it’s too late.

In addition, despite their own rules, the big social media companies often fail to make sure users are even 13 or older to begin with. So this content can reach kids far younger than teens.

And on top of all that, according to the Senate Commerce Committee, they’ve intentionally hidden some of these dangers from regulators and refused to take leadership while children get sick and even die.

Some children have ended up in the hospital for these problems, and even then, their parents and doctors have no idea social media led them there.

Our eating disorder lawsuit against social media companies will finally hold them accountable for what they’ve done.

How Our Social Media and Eating Disorder Lawsuit Can Help

It’s totally understandable if you didn’t see the dangers in social media and eating disorders for your child. The social media companies have brazenly hidden the risks, so you aren’t alone.

But now you know, and it’s time to hold these platforms accountable.

If your child has been treated for an eating disorder in connection to social media, you may be entitled to compensation. We believe these companies are liable for you and your family’s medical costs and enormous pain and suffering.

We are speaking with anyone 23 or younger and their families who’ve been led by social media into eating disorders and needed treatment for:

• Anorexia
• Bulimia
• Binge eating disorder
• Pica (eating things that aren’t food)
• Rumination disorder
• and any other eating disorder requiring treatment.

You have a right to get your child’s life back, and we can help. Our attorneys have helped take on some of the biggest corporations in the world.

From opioid manufacturers to chemical companies—we’ve fought Goliath, and we have what it takes to represent you against these giants and make them pay for what they did to your child.

Our attorneys will talk with you about your situation and answer any questions you may have. We are known across the Mid-South for our compassion and respect, and we’ll treat your family like our own. What’s more, we don’t win a thing unless you do.

Your child deserves so much better than this. Contact us today at 901-327-2100 or fill out the form below.