Brazilian consumer institute sues Meta, TikTok, Kwai over child mental health harms
The Instituto de Defesa Coletiva, a Brazilian consumer rights nonprofit, filed lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, and Kwai seeking compensation for collective moral damages and demanding algorithm changes to protect minors from mental health risks linked to excessive social media use.
What happened
The Instituto de Defesa Coletiva do Brasil, a consumer rights nonprofit, filed two lawsuits in the courts of Minas Gerais against the Brazilian branches of Meta, TikTok, and Kwai.
The lawsuits allege that the platforms have not created mechanisms to prevent excessive use by minors and claim the algorithmic design of these services promotes continuous engagement through features such as likes and feed refresh logic.
Reported impact
The institute alleges that prolonged and uncontrolled exposure to these platforms alters the brain's reward system, activates brain areas linked to pleasure, and increases addiction risk among children and adolescents.
The lawsuits seek 3 billion reais in damages from the companies and demand they create clear data protection mechanisms and disclose alerts about mental health risks to children and adolescents.
Index analysis
The action is grounded in findings from multiple studies on the impact of social media on younger users and how platform design amplifies those risks.
The institute proposes temporary access bans for minors until mechanisms to prevent addiction risk are implemented, and recommends changes to how personal data of minors is treated.
Governance controls
Meta stated it has been developing youth safety measures for over a decade, with more than 50 tools and features to support adolescents, and announced a new Teen Account on Instagram that limits who contacts adolescents and what content they see.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.