A recent $17 billion settlement reached by Meta in a United States court has sparked discussion over whether a comparable lawsuit could be pursued in Britain. The American action, initiated by a coalition of 48 states, alleged that Meta knowingly created addictive products for teenagers, which damaged mental health and led to anxiety, depression, and suicide. This was alongside allegations of children’s data privacy violations, in breach of federal and state law.
Collective Actions in the UK
In Britain, collective proceedings that do not involve competition matters are normally managed through Group Litigation Orders, known as GLOs. These are opt-in, as opposed to US class actions which are opt-out. Each individual claim must be verified in a GLO, which quickly balloons the administrative casework required for the claim, and therefore the cost.
In taking social media giants to court for claims of damaged mental health, potentially each claimant must be assessed by an expert witness before they can be included in the group. Health-related GLOs typically claim a specific adverse effect of an isolated cause – such as pollution from a factory across a defined area. Cases are therefore whittled down to those with the clearest common thread, where certification as a group claim is most likely.
Read Also: Plans to grant intestacy rights to cohabiting partners could create
Challenges in Bringing a Claim
In Abernethy & Ors v Barclays Bank UK PLC & Ors, the GLO was rejected on the basis that “fact-sensitive, individualised assessments” were incompatible with a GLO.
An alternative route is to bring the matter before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which permits opt-out collective proceedings. However, this path would necessitate reframing the claim to centre on clear financial loss, as British law does not currently provide a mechanism for opt-out collective actions based on non-financial injury such as personal or psychological damage.
The British government has recently introduced new online child-safety legislation, and the company sits prominently in the ensuing debate. While the American settlement attracted worldwide attention, the structural and procedural barriers in the United Kingdom make it uncertain whether a collective action against Meta can succeed under the current legal framework.
