U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on May 1 criticizing the company’s decision to remove advertisements from attorneys seeking to recruit plaintiffs for social media addiction lawsuits.

Meta began pulling the advertisements following verdicts in New Mexico and California that found the company liable for negligence in its platform design. More than a dozen ads running on Facebook and Instagram were deactivated. According to the senators’ letter, one removed ad read: “Anxiety. Depression. Withdrawal. Self-harm. These aren’t just teenage phases – they’re symptoms linked to social media addiction in children. Platforms knew this and kept targeting kids anyway.”

Meta confirmed the removals. “We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,” spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement, per Reuters. “We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.”

Senators Call Removal Pretextual

Blackburn and Klobuchar argued the removed ads did not violate Meta’s own Advertising Standards. The senators also noted that Meta’s removal of the ads conflicts with the company’s January 2025 policy changes, announcing it would “allow more speech” and limit content removal to only the most extreme circumstances.

The senators pointed to what they described as Meta’s own internal estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads per day and that approximately 10% of its 2024 revenue came from ads for scams and banned goods. 

“That Meta makes billions of dollars from fraudulent ads makes clear that Meta is removing these ads only to protect its bottom line,” the senators wrote.

Congressional Action Ahead

Meta, Google, Snapchat, and TikTok collectively face thousands of lawsuits alleging their platforms have contributed to a youth mental health crisis, according to Reuters. As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, Blackburn and Klobuchar said they plan to examine the matter in their subcommittee.

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