Meta and Google's YouTube are guilty of creating social media addiction and causing serious psychological distress in a 20-year-old woman, to whom they must now pay $3 million in moral and material damages. The landmark ruling reached by a Los Angeles jury could radically change social media, paving the way for hundreds if not thousands of new lawsuits. The lawsuit against the two Silicon Valley giants was filed by Kaley GM, a 20-year-old who told the court she had been heavily involved in social media since she was just six years old. She and her mother accused Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, of being designed to encourage binge consumption among young internet users, to the detriment of their mental health . The design of their apps, including their "infinite scroll" feature and algorithmic recommendations, caused her anxiety and depression.

The jury, composed of seven women and five men, initially had difficulty reaching a verdict, but the judge urged them to continue deliberating in order to reach a decision and avoid having to rehear the case, resulting in further costs for all parties. Ultimately, a verdict was reached: Meta and Google are guilty of negligence for operating a product that caused harm to children and adolescents and for failing to warn of the dangers. Jurors are now called upon to decide the amount of punitive damages the companies will have to pay for willful misconduct or fraud. The $3 million awarded, 70% of which will be paid by Meta, is in fact only moral damages.

For Meta, the ruling is a further blow, adding to the decision, reached just hours earlier, by another jury, this time in New Mexico, which found it responsible for failing to protect minors from online predators and for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms. This guilt is costing Mark Zuckerberg's tech giant $375 million, approximately $10,000 for each teenager who participated in the lawsuit. Meta's owner had testified in person at the trial in Los Angeles. He apologized to his accuser and other victims for the failure of Instagram's filter to identify and then limit access to children under 13.

Her words, however, didn't resonate with the jurors, and Meta now appears ready to appeal. "We disagree and are evaluating our legal options," the company said. Kaley GM's lawyers, meanwhile, are celebrating: "For years, social media companies have profited by targeting minors and hiding the design features that make their platforms dangerous. Today's verdict establishes their responsibility," they emphasized. The decision validates the new legal theory that social networks and their apps can cause personal harm. This theory draws on the strategy employed against the tobacco industry in recent decades, when Big Tobacco was accused of creating products capable of causing addiction and harm. Meta and Google failed to assert their argument that they enjoy federal protection for content posted by their users.

(Unioneonline)

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