A jury has found Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately designing addictive products that harmed a young user, marking a landmark verdict in the first-ever US social media addiction trial.
Jury Verdict
The Los Angeles jury ruled that both tech companies were negligent and failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products. The jury awarded the plaintiff $6 million in damages, with Meta to pay 70% and YouTube the remaining 30%.
It took nearly nine days of deliberations for the 12-person jury to reach its verdict. The case, over social media’s alleged harm to young people, was the first of its kind to go to trial.
The Plaintiff: KGM’s Story
The plaintiff, known as KGM (initials used for court proceedings), testified that she became addicted to YouTube at age six and Instagram at age nine. By age 10, she said she had become depressed and was engaging in self-harm as a result.
Her social media use allegedly caused strained relationships with her family and difficulties at school. When she was 13, KGM’s therapist diagnosed her with body dysmorphic disorder and social phobia, which KGM attributes to her use of Instagram and YouTube.
“Engineering of Addiction”
During closing arguments, KGM’s lawyer Mark Lanier told the jury: “How do you make a child never put down the phone? That’s called the engineering of addiction. They engineered it, they put these features on the phones.”
He described the platforms as “Trojan horses” that “look wonderful and great … but you invite them in and they take over.”
KGM’s lawyers argued her experience is emblematic of what tens of thousands of young people have faced on social media.
Landmark Victory
“Today’s verdict is a historic moment – for KGM and for the thousands of children and families who have been waiting for this day,” KGM’s lawyers said in a statement. “A jury of KGM’s peers heard the evidence, heard what Meta and YouTube knew and when they knew it, and held them accountable for their conduct.”
The plaintiffs’ arguments mirrored those brought against big tobacco in the 1990s, focusing on the addictive qualities of the products and companies’ public denials despite knowledge of harm.
The jury returned a 10-2 split in favor of the plaintiff on every single question.
Meta and YouTube Respond
Both companies plan to appeal. Meta said it is “confident of its protection of teens online” and that “teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.”
A YouTube spokesperson said the case “misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”
The companies have consistently denied wrongdoing. Meta has said KGM’s mental health issues were brought on by a difficult home life and social media use was not to blame.
What’s Next
This trial is the first in a consolidated group of cases brought in California against Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Snap on behalf of more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including more than 350 families and 250 school districts.
KGM’s case is the first of more than 20 “bellwether” trials slated to go to court over the next couple of years. The next bellwether case is scheduled for July, with a separate series of federal lawsuits starting in San Francisco in June.
The verdict comes just one day after Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in civil penalties in a separate lawsuit in New Mexico.
Source: The Guardian
