The D3 Association - Defense of Digital Rights has moved forward with four class actions against Meta, TikTok and YouTube, accusing these platforms of developing "addictive" social media. The Portuguese digital rights defense entity has thus decided to sue some of the largest technology companies in the world, seeking to hold them accountable for the alleged negative effects of their platforms on users.
The actions were filed at a time when pressure on technology companies is significantly increasing both in Europe and in the United States. Regulators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic have been tightening legislation and oversight on major digital platforms, demanding greater accountability for the impact of their technologies on society.
The association justifies the class actions with the concern that the design and features of social media are deliberately designed to create compulsive use habits, especially among the most vulnerable groups, such as young people. This type of collective action allows an organization to represent a large number of affected people without each one needing to pursue an individual lawsuit.
