Meta, Google Found Negligent in Social Media Harm to Youth Case
- tech360.tv
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
A Los Angeles jury found Meta and Alphabet's Google negligent for designing social media platforms harmful to young people. The verdict, totalling USD 6 million, is a bellwether for numerous similar cases.
The jury found Meta liable for USD 4.2 million in damages and Google for USD 1.8 million. These are small amounts for two of the world's most valuable companies, each with annual capital spending exceeding USD 100 billion.
The Los Angeles trial serves as a test case for thousands of similar lawsuits consolidated in California state courts. The plaintiff’s lead counsel stated, "Today’s verdict is a referendum — from a jury, to an entire industry — that accountability has arrived."
Meta and Google disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal, according to spokespeople for each company. Shares of Meta closed up 0.3%, and Google parent Alphabet finished 0.2% higher.
The case involves Kaley, a 20-year-old woman who was a minor when the case began. She stated she became addicted to Google's YouTube and Meta's Instagram at a young age due to their attention-grabbing designs. Features like the "infinite scroll" encourage users to keep looking at new posts.
The jury found Google and Meta were negligent in the design of both applications. They also failed to warn about their dangers. US law strongly protects social media companies from liability for content on their platforms, but the Los Angeles plaintiff focused on platform design rather than content.
Gil Luria, a technology sector analyst at investment firm D.A. Davidson, called the verdict a "setback" for Meta and Google. He stated this process would likely continue through future cases and appeals, but may eventually cause companies to implement consumer safeguards that could dampen growth.
Snap and TikTok were also defendants in the trial. Both settled with the plaintiff before the trial began, though terms of the agreements were not disclosed. Large technology companies in the US have faced mounting criticism over child and teen safety in the last decade.
The debate has now shifted to courts and state governments, as the US Congress has declined to pass comprehensive legislation regulating social media. At least 20 states enacted laws last year on social media usage and children, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, an organisation that tracks state laws.
This legislation includes bills that regulate cellphone use in schools and require users to verify their ages to open a social media account. NetChoice, a trade association backed by technology companies such as Meta and Google, is seeking to invalidate age verification requirements in court.
US senators Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, called on Congress to pass legislation directing social media companies to design their platforms with kids' safety in mind. A separate social media addiction case brought by several states and school districts against technology companies is expected to go to trial this summer in federal court in Oakland, California.
Another state trial is slated to begin in Los Angeles in July, according to Matthew Bergman, one of the attorneys leading the cases for the plaintiffs. That trial will involve Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat.
Separately, a New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta violated state law in a lawsuit brought by the state's attorney general. The attorney general accused Meta of misleading users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and of enabling child sexual exploitation on those platforms.
At trial, the plaintiff's lawyers sought to show Meta and Google intentionally targeted children and made decisions prioritising profit over safety. Meta's attorneys emphasised the plaintiff's difficult home life as a child as the cause of her mental health struggles. YouTube argued her usage of the streaming platform was minimal.
Jurors saw internal documents revealing how Meta and Google sought to attract younger users. Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, took the stand last month to defend company decisions.
When asked about Meta's decision to lift a temporary ban on beauty filters, which some inside Meta warned could be harmful to teen girls, Zuckerberg said he decided to let users express themselves. "I felt like the evidence wasn’t clear enough to support limiting people’s expression," he said. How free speech and content moderation factored into the companies' decisions is likely to play a part in any appeal.
A Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google negligent for designing social media platforms harmful to young people.
Meta was liable for USD 4.2 million and Google for USD 1.8 million in damages.
The verdict serves as a bellwether for thousands of similar lawsuits against technology companies.
Source: REUTERS
