More than 4,000 families have enlisted the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) on behalf of their children, who they say were irreparably harmed by social-media apps and AI chatbots. Founder Matthew P. Bergman has led the charge alongside fellow attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett, propelled by what he views as a “public-health emergency.” Since January 2022, the SMVLC has filed lawsuits against tech giants—like Meta, TikTok, OpenAI, and Character.AI—including cases in which victims have died by suicide after allegedly being encouraged to do so on the platforms. In May, a federal judge ruled that a first-of-its kind wrongful death suit against Character.AI and Google could move forward—a milestone in holding platforms accountable. (The two companies settled with the family in January.) “These are people who have suffered the worst loss anybody could imagine,” Bergman says. “I’ve never had clients who care less about the money and more about the justice.”
