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Rossella’s parents are among several families in Italy filing a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.
Irene Roggero Ugues, whose 12-year-old daughter took her own life in 2024, sits for an interview at a café in Asti, Italy, holding a photo of her daughter displayed on her phone. Photo: Reuters
Over just a few months, Irene observed a shift in Rossella’s behavior as social media flooded her with increasingly disturbing content related to self-harm, culminating in her tragic suicide.
Only after Rossella’s death did Irene and her husband unlock her devices, discovering she had been excessively using social media—more than they had realized—including a secret Instagram account named ‘Just a dead pers0n,’ with a zero replacing the ‘o.’
By September 2023, they noted Rossella began seeking out content about depression that reflected her own feelings. Social media algorithms kept reinforcing this material, and five months later, she was gone.
“I think, at some point, her online world took on a life of its own, growing until it overwhelmed her cheerful, sociable nature—the hopeful part of her,” Irene shared privately with Reuters at a café in Asti, her hometown.
Rossella’s parents are part of a group of families in Italy accusing Instagram and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, as well as TikTok—social media’s leading platform—of contributing to their children’s harm. This marks Italy’s first class-action challenge against social media giants and their recommendation algorithms, advocating for stricter access controls for minors and increased awareness of risks.
Both Meta and TikTok deny that their platforms are harmful to youths, asserting they take measures to shield young users by removing dangerous content, limiting exposure to harmful material, and supporting families in managing children’s accounts.
A Meta representative stated, “We understand parents’ concerns about their teens’ online safety, which is why we’re continually updating our features—such as ‘Teen Accounts’ and safety protections.”
They added, “We strongly oppose these allegations, which overlook our long-standing efforts to support young people.”
TikTok emphasized its policies, explaining that it rigorously enforces guidelines to protect users’ mental health and removes over 99% of content that violates those rules. They also invest in safety features designed to diversify recommended content, prevent harmful searches, and connect vulnerable users with support services, including local suicide prevention helplines.
Regarding Instagram’s role in Rossella’s case, Meta told Reuters that it would not comment during ongoing litigation. However, they noted that a young person’s mental health results from multiple factors, including how social media is used, the safeguards in place, and parental involvement.
Irene described Rossella’s tragedy as sudden and devastating, like an “illness” that rendered her parents powerless. Without the algorithms, she believes “the progression of her distress—be it psychosis or something else I can’t define—might have evolved more naturally.”
Across Europe, scrutiny of digital platforms is growing. The UK recently announced plans to ban social media for children under 16. In the U.S., a court found Meta and Google negligent in creating platforms harmful to young people.
European regulators are ramping up enforcement of the Digital Services Act to better protect minors and curb harmful content online.
“The aim isn’t to dismiss the benefits of social media but to eliminate the technological and marketing tricks that make it damaging to the most vulnerable,” said lawyer Stefano Commodo, leading the case with the Italian parents’ group MOIGE.
Parents argue that safety features on these platforms are inadequate, citing children’s ability to bypass filters or time limits by switching devices or using tutorials found online.
“Monitoring social media is a full-time job—requiring constant oversight, which is simply not feasible,” said Valentina Muraglie, a member of Italy’s association for large families.
She shared that her son Antonio, who loved reading Harry Potter, now spends most of his time scrolling on his phone as a young adult. She blames social media algorithms for gradually pulling his attention away from books.
“By the time he was 16, he had little interest in reading. Within a few years, he stopped reading altogether,” she told Reuters.
The World Health Organization warns that problematic social media use—resembling addiction—is rising among teens and connected to lower wellbeing, poor sleep, and broader health issues.
Studies in the US medical journal JAM Paediatrics reveal that heavy social media users, especially teenagers in their brain development phase, show observable differences in brain patterns. The Italian lawsuit claims social media platforms employ reward mechanisms similar to slot machines, triggering dopamine release—an element linked to pleasure and addiction—through likes and notifications.
“Each ‘like’ or alert causes dopamine to flood the brain, creating a dependency,” explained Tonino Cantelmi, a psychological expert involved in the case.
Families argue that brain scans of social media users demonstrate activity in areas associated with addictive behaviors.
Asked about scientific evidence presented in court, Meta and TikTok declined to comment specifically but reiterated their commitment to mental health support initiatives.
Some psychologists advise caution when interpreting the impact of social media, emphasizing that adolescents’ responses vary and that over-reliance on parental control may not be the answer.
“Handling adolescents’ social media use requires accepting that we’re unprepared,” said Federico Tonioni, head of the Web Psychopathology Centre at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. “Control isn’t healthy; young people need to be listened to. The best approach is trust.”
Irene explained she joined the lawsuit to raise awareness about risks she only became aware of too late to save Rossella. “We underestimated certain dangers and didn’t know they existed. Others can still act. Sharing our story is important—I don’t think Rossella would mind.”
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