Meta, TikTok, YouTube to stand trial on youth addiction claims
The first U.S. jury trial will examine claims that Meta, ByteDance, and Google designed addictive social media features harming youth mental health, amid thousands of related lawsuits.
- On Tuesday in Los Angeles, jury selection opens in a California state court bellwether trial testing if Alphabet, ByteDance and Meta designed platforms to addict youth, focusing on 19-year-old plaintiff K.G.M.
- Plaintiffs say firms designed features and business models to capture youth attention and harm mental health, borrowing tobacco-era legal strategies while accepting the burden to prove K.G.M. was harmed.
- The Social Media Victims Law Center notes 'This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids' as it handles over 1,000 cases, alleging addiction-related harms.
- The trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl is expected to start the first week of February, and Matthew Bergman said a decisive outcome could set a legal precedent, according to reports.
- Across jurisdictions, related lawsuits move through federal courts in Northern California and state courts across the United States as defendants argue they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act and Meta prepares for Mark Zuckerberg to testify.
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Landmark Trial Puts Tech Giants On the Stand Over Social Media Addiction
A courtroom in California is about to take on Big Tech — and the stakes couldn’t be higher. On Tuesday, a landmark trial kicks off that asks a question many parents, teens and lawmakers have been quietly wondering for years. Are social media platforms deliberately designed to be addictive?The case was brought by a 19-year-old woman, known in court as KGM. She says social media algorithms pulled her into compulsive use and damaged her mental heal…
SCIENCE & TECH: Meta, TikTok and YouTube face landmark trial over youth addiction claims – One America News Network
By BARBARA ORTUTAYUpdated 3:26 AM PST, January 27, 2026 AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File Three of the world’s biggest tech companies face a landmark trial in Los Angeles starting this week over claims that their platforms — Meta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube — deliberately addict and harm children. Jury selection starts this week in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s the first time the companies will argue their case b…
Meta, TikTok and YouTube face landmark trial over youth addiction claims | Chattanooga Times Free Press
Three of the world's biggest tech companies face a landmark trial in Los Angeles starting this week over claims that their platforms — Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok and Google's YouTube — deliberately addict and harm children.
In Los Angeles, the first of some pending model processes against social media companies begins. It is about their co-responsibility for psychological problems of young users. By Antje Sieb.
Meta, TikTok, And YouTube Will Be Heading To Trial Over Claims Its Use Led To Addiction And Harm In Children
Three big tech companies are heading to trial this week. ABC News reports that Meta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Google’s YouTube are heading to Los Angeles County Superior Court, with jury selection underway this week. The case involves claims that the platforms’ products are harmful and addictive to children. A 19-year-old referred to as “KGM” is joined by two other plaintiffs, according to ABC News. KGM says she began using social med…
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