Meta Backs One Proceeding for Facebook, Instagram Injury Suits

Meta Platforms Inc. agreed that federal lawsuits alleging that Facebook and Instagram, as well as other companies’ social media platforms, cause addiction and self-destructive behavior should be combined into one proceeding, it told the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Brianna Murden, who attributes her depression, eating disorders, and sleeplessness to use of the two platforms, asked the panel earlier this month to create a single, multidistrict proceeding.

Nearly 50 such cases are pending in 26 federal courts, Meta said in a filing Tuesday. All are in a very early stage of litigation, it said.

The lawsuits followed a former ...