Meta and YouTube were found liable on Wednesday in a landmark social media addiction trial in a California state court.
The ruling by a jury on the Los Angeles Superior Court found the parent companies of the social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube negligent, per Sky News.
The case, which unfolded through several weeks of proceedings at trial and days of jury deliberation, centered on claims from a 19-year-old, identified only as K.G.M. in the lawsuit, who claimed she became addicted to the social media platforms, which eventually led her to have depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta, owner of Instagram and Facebook; Snap, owner of Snapchat; TikTok; and YouTube were initially slated to be on trial together, but Snap and TikTok reached settlements for undisclosed amounts just before trial, leaving only Meta and YouTube up for possible damages in this case.
During the trial, the heads of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, and Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, testified, with both defending the platforms’ safeguards for younger users.
The case in Los Angeles is widely viewed as a sign of where future lawsuits over social media addiction could go across the country. Lawyers for the teenage plaintiff compared the case to the high-profile lawsuits against tobacco companies in the 1990s over their advertising, particularly to young people, which led to significant restrictions on how those products may be marketed.
ZUCKERBERG GRILLED ON META’S TARGETING OF TEENAGERS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION TRIAL
The ruling in Los Angeles comes a day after a jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay a $375 million fine for failing to disclose the risks of social media to minors, in violation of state law.
Social media platforms and their addictive qualities have been increasingly under the microscope for the past decade, with the heads of social media companies testifying before Congress and platforms making adjustments for younger users. In June 2024, then-President Joe Biden’s surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, called for a social media warning label to state that “social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”