Jury rules against Meta and YouTube in social media addiction case

A jury in Los Angeles has found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in a closely-watched trial over social media addiction. The companies were ordered to pay $3 million in damages to the woman who said she was harmed by their addictive features as a child.

The case was brought by a 20-year-old woman, named in court documents as “K.G.M,” who sued Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap, saying that she had been harmed by the platforms as a child due to addictive features. TikTok and Snap reached a settlement ahead of the trial. 

According to NBC News, Meta was ordered to pay 70 percent of the $3 million in compensatory damages with YouTube taking on the remaining portion. Punitive damages have not yet been decided. “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The weeks-long trial has been closely watched because it's the first of many court cases in which plaintiffs have argued that social media platforms harmed minors due to how they were designed. Meta's lawyers and executives have disputed the idea that social media should be considered an "addiction." CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified that the company wants Instagram to be "useful," and repeatedly accused the plaintiff's lawyer of "mischaracterizing" his past statements. 

“This is the first time in history a jury has heard testimony by executives and seen internal documents that we believe prove these companies chose profits over children,” Joseph VanZandt, one of K.G.M.’s lawyers, said in a statement to The New York Times,

For Meta, it's the second legal setback in as many days. The verdict comes one day after a jury in New Mexico ruled against Meta in a trial over child safety issues. The company was ordered to pay $375 million in penalties; the company said it would appeal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/jury-rules-against-meta-and-youtube-in-social-media-addiction-case-181344860.html?src=rss