Partner Ryan Baker Interviewed by CBS News Morning about Social Media Companies Facing Lawsuit From Parents

Ryan Baker speaking to CBS News Morning on December 12, 2022 about more than 1,200 families suing social media companies for allegedly impacting their children’s mental health, including cases of teen suicides, said “the algorithms are products that the companies develop themselves and those products can be the basis for liability”…

Speaking with Anchor Anne-Marie Green, Baker said, “The state of the law is in flux.” Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides some immunity from liability to providers of a social media site because the host is not the provider. However, Baker said, “It is exactly right” that the host companies are responsible for the algorithms. Baker said negligence law takes into account to whether a company acted in a reasonable and responsible manner.

The CBS News Morning episode featuring Baker followed a 60 Minutes report on Sunday evening that featured an interview with parents who had lost a daughter to suicide after she saw a Instagram video detailing a certain method of hanging yourself. The girl’s parents said the Instagram video was not taken down for another year and a half even though the social media company has a policy against showing content about self-harm.