Mom sues Meta and Snap over her daughter's suicide

The mother of an 11-year-old girl who killed herself last year is suing Facebook parent company Meta and social media company Snap, alleging they are responsible for her daughter's death.

In the lawsuit, Tammy Rodriguez accuses the two companies, Meta-owned Instagram, and Snap-owned messaging app Snapchat of causing her daughter, Selena Rodriguez, to become addicted to what the complaint calls their "dangerous and defective social media products."

Selena Rodriguez took her own life last July "after struggling with the harmful effects of social media," her mother, of Enfield, Connecticut, alleges in the suit, which was filed in San Francisco federal court on Thursday. More broadly, the complaint claims the apps are explicitly designed to "exploit human psychology" through the use of sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence.