Meta, YouTube face trial over allegations their tech is addictive, as TikTok settles
Meta and YouTube are in court this week over allegations that their social media platforms can be addictive and harmful to children, while TikTok on Tuesday chose to settle the closely watched case.
At the heart of the case are allegations by a 19-year-old plaintiff, identified only as "KGM," who claims that using social media from a young age caused her to become addicted to the technology, which led her to develop depression and suicidal thoughts.
TikTok was also scheduled to be part of the trial, but it has settled with the plaintiff, according to Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing KGM.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap, also settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.
Potential bellwether
Legal experts have said the trial could be a bellwether for more than a thousand similar cases brought against social media players in recent years. Depending on the outcome, tech giants could be forced to overhaul their platforms, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
The trial will also serve as a test case to see what damages, if any, may be awarded to plaintiffs, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute.
The trial, which kicks off this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is the first time major social media companies will argue their case before a jury. The jury selection process is expected to take several days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day.
KGM's lawsuit alleges that the social media addiction and mental illness she suffered were caused by deliberate design choices made by companies that sought to make their platforms more addictive to children to boost profits. This argument, if successful, could sidestep the companies' First Amendment shield and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.
"Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue," the lawsuit says.
A Meta spokesperson said in a statement Monday that the company strongly disagrees with the allegations outlined in the lawsuit and that it's "confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people."
José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, said Monday that the allegations against YouTube are "simply not true." Google is the parent company of YouTube.
"Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work," Castañeda added.
Zuckerberg expected to testify
Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Experts have drawn similarities to the Big Tobacco trials that led to a 1998 settlement requiring cigarette companies to pay billions in healthcare costs and restrict marketing targeting minors.
"Plaintiffs are not merely the collateral damage of Defendants' products," the lawsuit says. "They are the direct victims of the intentional product design choices made by each Defendant. They are the intended targets of the harmful features that pushed them into self-destructive feedback loops."
The tech companies dispute the claims that their products deliberately harm children, citing a bevy of safeguards they have added over the years and arguing that they are not liable for content posted on their sites by third parties.
"Recently, a number of lawsuits have attempted to place the blame for teen mental health struggles squarely on social media companies," Meta said in a recent blog post. "But this oversimplifies a serious issue. Clinicians and researchers find that mental health is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue, and trends regarding teens' well-being aren't clear-cut or universal. Narrowing the challenges faced by teens to a single factor ignores the scientific research and the many stressors impacting young people today, like academic pressure, school safety, socio-economic challenges and substance abuse."
School lawsuits
The case will be the first in a slew of cases beginning this year that seek to hold social media companies responsible for harming children's mental well-being. A federal trial beginning in June in Oakland, California, will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harms to children.
In addition, more than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it is harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. The majority of cases filed their lawsuits in federal court, but some sued in their respective states.
TikTok also faces similar lawsuits in more than a dozen states.
