Los Angeles – A verdict has been reached in a landmark civil case accusing social media giants of profiting from products designed to dangerously addict children.
“We have been informed that the judge has reached a decision,” the plaintiff’s attorney said in an email. “It will be read this morning.”
The lawsuit, which began last month in Los Angeles County court and included testimony from tech executives including Mark Zuckerberg, was the first in a consolidated group of lawsuits filed against the company and others by more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including more than 350 families and more than 250 school districts.
If the decision is in favor of the plaintiff, identified in court by his first name, KGM, the companies could face damages to be determined by the judge.
The lead attorney for KGM said he hopes the trial will bring transparency and accountability “so that the public can see that these companies are organizing the addiction problem in our country and around the world.”
Lawyers for Meta and Google’s YouTube, which is also named as a defendant, dispute those claims and say their platforms, including Meta’s Instagram, are harmless and intentionally addictive.
The plaintiff, now 20 years old, was a minor at the time of the events presented in his case. KGM testified in court that his almost constant use of social media caused or contributed to depression, anxiety and physical disorders. “It affected my self-esteem a lot,” he said last month.
Speaking about his use of social media, KGM revealed that he felt he wanted to stay on social media and was afraid of missing out if he wasn’t there.
A spokesperson for Meta said KGM’s “major challenges” were not caused by social media and revealed the “extreme emotional and physical abuse” he experienced as a child.
In his closing argument, YouTube’s attorney said there was no mention of addiction to that platform in KGM’s medical records.
The ruling comes after a jury in a separate case in New Mexico charged Meta with failing to protect children from cyberbullying and sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram.
A New Mexico judge found Tuesday that Meta violated state consumer protection laws and ordered the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties. Meta stated that the company opposes this decision and plans to appeal this decision.
In Los Angeles, negotiations took a long time, wrapping up after about 44 hours over the course of nine days. Jurors told Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl they were having trouble agreeing on one defendant.
Social media companies have historically been protected by Section 230, a provision added to the Communications Act of 1934 that says internet companies are not liable for posting content users have posted.
The KGM case marked the first public action to hold platforms accountable for allegedly causing addiction and mental health problems.
TikTok and Snap, also named as defendants in the KGM case, reached settlements before the trial. They are still defendants in a series of similar cases expected to go to trial this year.
Matt Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center — which represents hundreds of plaintiffs in federal and state proceedings — told reporters earlier this week that when his firm began suing social media companies four years ago, no one thought the lawsuits would go to trial.
“But win or lose the outcome of this case, victims in the United States have won because we now know that social media companies can and will be held accountable before a fair and impartial judge,” Bergman said. “And in some cases the plaintiffs will be successful, and in others they may not be successful, but we are happy with the opportunity to get this far, and there will be many more trials in the future.”
Shanshan Dong and Angela Yang reported from Los Angeles, and Tim Stelloh from Alameda, California.
