Meta Platforms dismisses shareholder lawsuit over child safety claims

Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – Meta Platforms and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have won a dismissal of a lawsuit alleging they misled shareholders in Meta’s proxy statement about their ability to ensure the safety of children using Facebook and Instagram.

In his ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said plaintiff Matt Eisner failed to prove that shareholders suffered economic loss because of Meta’s alleged improper disclosures.

He also said federal securities law does not require Meta to detail the seriousness of sexually explicit content and child sexual exploitation on its platforms or all the child protection policies it has decided not to adopt.

“Essentially, Eisner would like Meta to argue against its own recommendations, tout the benefits of tools it ultimately rejected, highlight its own failures, and discount its own successes,” Breuer wrote. “There’s no need for that.”

Eisner’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for Mehta and Zuckerberg did not immediately respond to such requests.

The lawsuit sought to block Meta from holding its 2024 annual meeting until its proxy statement is amended, to throw out the election results if the meeting goes ahead, and to force Meta and Zuckerberg to cover Eisner’s legal fees and costs. .

In June, Breyer declined to attend the meeting, saying many of Meta’s assurances in a proxy statement that she was committed to children’s safety were merely “aspirational” and did not justify the lawsuit.

Tuesday’s dismissal was prejudicial, meaning Eisner cannot sue Mehta and Zuckerberg again.

Meta still faces lawsuits from dozens of state attorneys general accusing the Menlo Park, California-based company of getting children addicted to its apps while downplaying the risks.

He also faces hundreds of lawsuits from children, their parents and school districts over social media addiction. The operators of TikTok, Snapchat and other applications face hundreds of similar lawsuits.

The case is Eisner v. Meta Platforms Inc et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 24-02175.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)