Los Angeles – In much-anticipated testimony Thursday, the plaintiff in a landmark social media addiction trial said using apps like Instagram and YouTube as a child fueled her depression and anxiety, leading her to withdraw from her family.
Now 20 years old, the plaintiff – identified in court documents by her initials, KGM – detailed how her near-constant use of social media “affected my self-esteem.”
“They made me give up many old hobbies and interests, and prevented me from making friends… [and] It made me compare myself to other people,” he told the Los Angeles County Superior Court judges.
“I just felt like I wanted to be in it all the time,” she said. “If I hadn’t been there, I would have missed something.”
The KGM lawsuit is the first in a consolidated group of lawsuits against Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Snap by more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including more than 350 families and more than 250 school districts. Plaintiffs accuse tech companies of intentionally designing addictive products that are harmful to the mental health of young users.
Historically, social media has been largely protected by Section 230, a provision added to the Communications Act of 1934 that says internet companies are not responsible for posting content users have posted. TikTok and Snap reached settlements with KGM before the trial, but remain defendants in a series of similar lawsuits expected to go to trial this year.
KGM’s bellwether case may become a legal precedent that social media is responsible for mental health problems in children. If the jury’s decision is in KGM’s favor, the companies could face jury damages and be forced to change their platform designs. The decision may also set the tone for whether they choose to fight or settle future cases.
Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, and Google, which owns YouTube, have denied that their apps are intentionally dangerous and addictive to new users.
In court, KGM elaborated on claims that the companies made deliberate design decisions to make their platform more addictive to children for profit. His complaint highlights various features he says the platforms use to “exploit children and youth,” including “algorithmically generated, endless feeds to keep users scrolling,” rewards that encourage people to continue using the platform and “relentless” notifications, and “inadequate” age verification and parental controls.
KGM said she created her Instagram account when she was 9, before the app asked new users to enter their birthdays. Before that, he said, he had also lied about his age to create a YouTube account without reading the platform’s legal fines.
Growing up, KGM told jurors, not having his phone often sent him “into a panic.”
“Without you, I felt like a big part of me was missing,” she said. “If I didn’t have it, I would be missing something, not seeing who likes my stuff.”
Although he and his mother often argued over the use of his phone, he could not put it down. She said she would get a “rush” every time she received a notification about her social media posts or profiles and then felt so compelled to check them that she would sneak off to the bathroom or stop sleeping at night.
“When I got a lot of likes, I was really happy,” she said. “If I didn’t get a lot of likes, I would feel like I shouldn’t have posted them, I’m ugly.”
About YouTube, KGM said, he started “when I was young” and “spent all my time on it.”
“I was watching it in class,” she said. Whenever I tried to limit myself, it just wouldn’t happen, and I just couldn’t get off.”
KGM said that because of his use of social media, he still suffers from body dysmorphia. He said he first noticed it after being exposed to social media filters, which often mask effects like skin smoothing or makeup.
Meta introduced beauty filters to Instagram stories in 2017. In 2019, it has greatly expanded its slate of original unpopular filters, allowing users to create and publish their own.
KGM said he now tries to avoid filters “because I know I will feel very bad if I use them.”
Meta disputed allegations that social media was the cause of KGM’s mental health challenges as a child, arguing in a brief filed Wednesday that he faced other issues at home that contributed to his mental state.
Its filing points to “numerous examples of ’emotional abuse and neglect.’ [Plaintiff’s] mother, including not talking to each other for long periods of time, frequent verbal abuse (eg, ‘dumb,’ ‘stupid’), and mocking of her voice,’ and ‘physical abuse, including beating the complainant.’”
(In court, KGM disputed Meta’s contention that her family had contributed to her mental health struggles, telling jurors that she had never experienced “abuse or neglect or anything like that.”)
Pressed about social media addiction, Instagram chief Adam Moseri, who testified earlier this month, said, “I think it’s important to distinguish between clinical addiction and problematic use.”
Mosseri also touched on the filters, saying that the platform finally decided to prohibit “results that promote plastic surgery.”
YouTube’s vice president of engineering, Christos Goodrow, who took the post on Monday and Tuesday, reiterated that the video platform is “not built to maximize time.”
On Wednesday, Victoria Burke, who was KGM’s therapist for 13 years, said she doesn’t think social media is the only factor driving her client’s mental health problems, but she suspects it is a contributing factor.
“I believe it was the cause, not the cause,” he said.
