US EditionAs Juries Turn Against Social Media for Harming Kids, Big Tech’s Invincibility Starts to Show Cracks
Juries found Meta and YouTube liable for mental health harms, addictive design, and child sexual exploitation failures in two cases, reflecting growing teen concerns, a 2025 poll shows.
- On Wednesday, juries in Los Angeles and New Mexico held Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children, marking the first time courts have held social media platforms accountable for product design choices.
- By focusing on deliberate design choices rather than content distribution, plaintiffs bypassed legal protections that generally exempt internet companies from liability for material users post on their services.
- A 2025 Pew Research Center poll shows 48% of teens believe social media harms their age group, up from 32% in 2022, reflecting growing public concern about platform effects on youth.
- Both Meta and Google disagreed with the verdicts and are exploring legal options including appeals. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified, "I'm not sure what to say to that. I don't think that applies here."
- Arturo, a former Meta engineering director, said these jury trials "level the playing field" for plaintiffs facing trillion-dollar companies, potentially signaling a shift in how courts approach Big Tech liability.
55 Articles
55 Articles
L.A. social media addiction verdict set to unleash more lawsuits — and force changes
Civil juries in Los Angeles County and Santa Fe, N.M., recently found that social media companies were responsible for harms their products caused to children. The bellwether cases could now open the floodgates for a deluge of similar lawsuits.
Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They’re Actually Cheering For
First things first: Meta is a terrible company that has spent years making terrible decisions and being terrible at explaining the challenges of social media trust & safety, all while prioritizing growth metrics over user safety. If you’ve been reading Techdirt for any length of time, you know we’ve been critical of the company for years. Mark Zuckerberg deserves zero benefit of the doubt. So when a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 milli…
Photos show reactions after juries fault social media for harming kids - The Morning Sun
In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children using their services. In New Mexico, a jury on Tuesday determined that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Washington Top News
As juries turn against social media for harming kids, Big Tech’s invincibility starts to show cracks
For years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people'
Associated Press News
Verdicts against Meta, YouTube validate concerns long raised by parents, child safety advocates
It’s too soon to tell if this week’s jury decisions will lead to fundamental changes in how social media treats its young users.
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