A teenager is suing Meta after ' addictive ' Instagram left her with 'permanent mental and emotional damages' alongside 'likely' long-term physical issues.
Alexis Spence, 19, got her first Instagram account when she was 11, despite the platform's minimum age requirement being 13, and her mental health deteriorated shortly thereafter.
It has been claimed that the social media app's artificial intelligence algorithm steered the young girl to accounts that glorified eating disorders and self-harm.
The case, brought by Social Media Victims Law Center in the US, alleges that at the same time, Instagram's bosses were launching new features that were designed to make the app more addictive.
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According to Alexis' family, she was a bright and happy child who liked to read and competed in singing competitions, but all that changed when she downloaded Instagram.
Since then, she has been hospitalised for depression, suffers with anxiety, and has health concerns related to anorexia, while her lawyers say she "fights to stay in recovery every day".
A spokesperson for the Social Media Victims Law Center said: "She dreamt about becoming a veterinarian, was active in singing competitions and theatre, enjoyed being in the spotlight and looked for opportunities to shine.
"Alexis opened her first Instagram account when she was just 11 years old, without her parents’ consent. Almost immediately, Alexis was directed to sites promoting anorexia, negative body image and self-harm."
They said that Alexis found Instagram content, from other users, that taught her how to hide her application use by disguising the icon as a calculator.
They say she was also able to open a second account using a school email address, which she can't access, showing that Instagram did not verify users' information.
The spokesperson continued: "Over time, Alexis developed an eating disorder after Instagram’s algorithm directed her to content that increasingly included underweight models, unhealthy eating and eating disorder content, eventually leading to mental heath problems and thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation.
"Meta’s own documents confirm that '66 per cent of teen girls on Instagram experience negative social comparison'.
"As a result of Alexis’ addiction to Instagram, she had to undergo professional counselling, in-patient programs, out-patient programs, participate in eating disorder programs and will likely require help in the form of a service dog for the rest of her life, as well as ongoing medical attention to ensure she does not digress."
Alexis and her mother, Kathleen, spoke out about the negative effects of social media during an interview with NBC News.
They shared a picture that Alexis had drew when she was in the grips of her issues, which showed herself crying on the floor next to her phone with words like 'b***h', 'stupid', 'ugly', and 'fat'.
The drawing also said 'kill yourself' in a speech bubble.
According to Social Media Victims Law Center, Instagram's algorithm pushed content about extreme weight loss to Alexis and suggested pages featuring thin models.
Those pages led her to terms including 'ana' and 'pro-ana', which are abbreviations for anorexia.
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She then developed eating disorders of her own, looking at pictures of anorexic models for 'motivation' and purging after meals, the law centre claims.
In 2018, her parents became aware of Alexis self-harming and her eating issues so they limited her screen time and got her a therapy dog, Draco.
But Alexis' problems continued and later that year Kathleen was called into school to discuss a troubling Instagram post her daughter had made.
In the post, she wrote: "I hate myself and I hate my body, and I'm sitting on the bathroom floor crying.
"Please stop caring about me, I'm a waste of time and space, and everything would be better without me, all I do is bring people down."
She was then hospitalised with anorexia and "major depressive disorder and anxiety" and is now in remission, but she hasn't deleted all of her Instagram accounts.
The lawsuit states: "She must stay in constant contact with her doctors and fights to stay in recovery every day.
"Alexis will suffer permanent mental and emotional damages because of what Instagram has done. Alexis' doctors have also advised that long-term physical damage is likely."
Instagram has been approached for comment.
Have you been affected by social media addiction? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk
