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Jury finds Instagram and YouTube liable in landmark social media addiction trial
A Los Angeles jury awarded $3 million, finding Meta and YouTube negligent for addicting a young user and worsening her mental health, with punitive damages to be decided.
- On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google-owned YouTube negligent in designing addictive platforms, awarding plaintiff Kaley G.M. $3 million in compensatory damages—70% to Meta, 30% to YouTube—and finding the companies acted with malice.
- The bellwether trial, which began in January in Los Angeles Superior Court, examined claims that features like "infinite scroll" and autoplay were intentionally designed to hook young users, which Kaley alleged fueled her anxiety and depression.
- Internal documents revealed Meta researchers found 11-year-olds were four times more likely to return to Instagram than competing apps, though defendants argued Kaley's struggles stemmed from a turbulent childhood rather than their platforms.
- A separate proceeding will determine punitive damages after the jury found the companies acted with egregious conduct; this follows a Tuesday decision ordering Meta to pay $375 million in a similar New Mexico child safety case.
- Experts compare this 'Big Tobacco' moment to 1990s tobacco litigation, as the verdict could influence thousands of pending suits from school districts and families, signaling tech firms may increasingly face liability for platform design.
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A Californian gets three million dollars of pain money from Meta and Youtube. The online platforms have addicted the 20-year-olds, the jury decides. The process could trigger a trial avalanche.
Meta And YouTube Social Media Addiction Trial: Companies Found Negligent, Jury Rules In Favor Of 20-Year-Old Woman
A California jury has ruled in favor of a 20-year-old woman who filed complaints against Meta and YouTube for negligence. The jury ordered Meta to pay $3 million in compensatory damages after concluding that its platforms are liable on all counts for causing the woman to be addicted to social media and harming her mental health. Meta and YouTube fail to warn social media users about the risk of addiction and about how people’s mental health may …
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Total News Sources432
Leaning Left78Leaning Right58Center135Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
L 29%
C 50%
R 21%
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