A recent jury verdict in Los Angeles has found Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately designing addictive products that harmed a young user, marking a significant milestone in the ongoing debate about the impact of social media on young people's mental health. The jury awarded the plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman known as KGM, $6m in damages, with Meta to pay 70% and YouTube the remainder.
The case, which was the first of its kind to go to trial, heard from top executives at Meta and YouTube, whistleblowers, expert witnesses on social media and addiction, and KGM herself, who testified about the deleterious effects of social media on her wellbeing. KGM's lawyers argued that her experience was emblematic of what tens of thousands of young people have faced on social media and in their offline lives.
KGM's story is a disturbing one. She became addicted to YouTube at the age of six and Instagram at nine, which she said had a profound impact on her mental health. By the time she was 10, she was depressed and engaging in self-harm, and her social media use allegedly caused her to have strained relationships with her family and in school. Her therapist diagnosed her with body dysmorphic disorder and social phobia when she was 13, which KGM attributes to her use of Instagram and YouTube.
The Engineering of Addiction
Mark Lanier, KGM's lawyer, argued during closing arguments that social media companies had engineered their products to be addictive, using features such as infinitely scrollable feeds and video autoplay to keep users engaged. "How do you make a child never put down the phone? That's called the engineering of addiction," he said. "These are Trojan horses: they look wonderful and great … but you invite them in and they take over."
The plaintiffs' arguments mirrored those brought against big tobacco in the 1990s, which focused on cigarettes' addictive qualities and companies' public denials despite knowledge of their products' harms. The jury was asked to consider whether the companies' negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm to KGM and if the tech firms knew the design of their products was dangerous.
The jury's verdict comes just one day after Meta was ordered to pay $375m in civil penalties in a separate lawsuit in New Mexico, where the company was found to have misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation, against its users. The back-to-back verdicts are the first ever to find Meta liable for how its products affect young people.
Response from Tech Giants
Meta has said it will appeal the rulings in Los Angeles and New Mexico, with a spokesperson stating that the company is confident of its protection of teens online. "We respectfully disagree with the verdict … Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app," the spokesperson said. A YouTube spokesperson, José Castañeda, also disagreed with the verdict, stating that the video service is a "responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site."
Both companies have consistently denied wrongdoing, with YouTube calling the allegations "simply not true" and Meta stating that KGM's mental health issues were brought on by a difficult home life and social media use was not to blame. However, the jury's verdict suggests that the tide of public opinion may be turning against the tech giants, with many experts and lawmakers calling for greater regulation of the industry.
Broader Implications
The 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 over 350 families and 250 school districts. KGM's case is also the first of more than 20 "bellwether" trials, which are slated to go to court over the next couple of years and are used to gauge juries' reactions as well as set legal precedent. The next bellwether case is scheduled to go to trial in July.
The verdict has significant implications for the tech industry, with many experts predicting that it will lead to a wave of similar lawsuits and increased regulatory scrutiny. As the debate about the impact of social media on young people's mental health continues to grow, one thing is clear: the tech giants can no longer ignore the harm that their products may be causing.
