Jury Finds Meta and YouTube Liable in Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta and YouTube liable for designing products that led to harmful and addictive use by a young user, a verdict CBS News called a landmark that could set a precedent for similar cases against social media companies. NPR reported that it was the first time a jury has found social media apps should be treated as defective products.

The jury awarded the plaintiff, identified in court filings by her initials, $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages, CBS News and NPR reported. She alleged that using Instagram and YouTube from a young age led to addictive use and contributed to mental health problems, according to CBS News. Jurors found the companies negligent in designing and operating the platforms, and that they knew the platforms could harm minors but did not adequately warn users. Responsibility was split 70% to Meta and 30% to YouTube, and the jury found “malice, oppression or fraud,” which supported the punitive award, with Meta responsible for $2.1 million and YouTube $900,000, CBS News said.

The case turned on design, not content, which matters because internet companies have long relied on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects them from liability for third-party content, CBS News reported. The weekslong trial put Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri on the stand, CBS News reported, and drew comparisons to the 1990s tobacco litigation, according to CBS News and NPR. Jurors deliberated nine days for more than 40 hours, at one point telling the judge they were struggling to agree on one defendant, and the verdict was not unanimous, though a majority voted to hold both companies liable, CBS News said.

Both companies said they will appeal. “Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app,” a Meta spokesperson told CBS News and NPR. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the verdict misrepresents YouTube, “which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site,” per CBS News. TikTok and Snap were named in the original complaint but settled before the trial began in late January, CBS News reported.

The plaintiff’s lead trial lawyer, Mark Lanier, said after the verdict, according to NPR, “I would’ve thought it was likely we would have gotten a bigger number.” NPR described the trial as a bellwether tied to about 2,000 other pending lawsuits. Joseph VanZandt, co-lead lawyer for families and others suing the companies, called it “a referendum -- from a jury, to an entire industry -- that accountability has arrived.”

Two jurors spoke to reporters, NPR reported. The foreman said the jurors “stuck to following the law.” Another juror said the panel wanted to send a message: “We wanted them to feel it.” CBS News added that a day earlier, in another first-of-its-kind case, a New Mexico jury found Meta violated state child exploitation laws.