A jury finds Meta and Google negligent in a trial over social media's harms

A California jury has found Meta and Google negligent in a landmark social media trial, awarding $6 million in damages to a young woman who experienced depression and anxiety due to compulsive social media use as a child. This verdict is significant because it's the first time a jury has deemed social media apps defective products, engineered to exploit young users' developing brains. The jury concluded that Meta's apps, including Instagram, and Google's YouTube were deliberately designed to be addictive, and the companies were aware of this and failed to protect their youngest users. This decision could influence over 2,000 other pending lawsuits against social media companies, drawing comparisons to the legal battles against Big Tobacco in the 1990s. Lawyers for the plaintiffs focused on the design of the platforms, arguing that features like infinite scroll and constant notifications made them akin to a "digital casino." Meta and Google have vowed to appeal, with Meta stating that teen mental health is complex and not solely attributable to one app, and Google asserting YouTube is a streaming platform, not social media. The verdict came a day after Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in a separate New Mexico trial for failing to protect young users from child predators. The plaintiff's legal team presented internal company documents showing awareness of the addictive nature of their platforms and efforts to attract young users. The jury's task was to determine if compulsive social media use was a "substantial factor" in the plaintiff's struggles and if the defective design was the direct cause. This case, along with others, highlights the growing scrutiny of tech companies' impact on youth mental health.