LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta and Google-owned YouTube negligent in the design of their social media platforms and awarded $6 million in damages to a young woman who says her childhood use of Instagram and YouTube led to addiction, depression, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts.
Jurors found Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, 70% and YouTube 30% responsible for the harm caused to the plaintiff, identified in court by her initials K.G.M., according to NBC News. In a news conference after the verdict, her lawyers referred to her as Kaley.
Matthew Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, served as plaintiffs’ counsel in the landmark social media addiction trial. He joined an Emily’s Hope Youth Prevention Coalition panel discussion earlier in March in Sioux Falls following a screening of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Can’t Look Away.
Bergman and his team have been challenging how platforms design their products and the impact those design choices have on youth mental health. The broader litigation effort seeks to hold major technology companies accountable for alleged negligent product design and failure to protect children, while also testing the scope of Section 230 protections.
“It’s a fight I’ve spent 30 years training for,” Bergman said in Sioux Falls earlier this month. “It’s challenging—intellectually challenging, emotionally draining, but also very, very rewarding. I feel like this work has some of the same moral resonance that the Civil Rights movement had in the 1960s in that, by standing up for these parents, I’m, I’m really fulfilling my, my highest and best use as a lawyer.”
Bergman represents more than 4,000 families across the country in lawsuits involving social media-related harms, including cases tied to online drug sales and youth suicide.
Also on the panel was Amy Neville, whose 14-year-old son Alexander died from fentanyl poisoning after purchasing what he believed was a legitimate pill through a social media platform.
“This is such a historical moment. We’ve been told for years that this wasn’t possible. But here we are with a win, which I believe is going to be one of many,” Neville told Emily’s Hope on Wednesday after the verdict. “This is where the real change happens!”
The first $3 million was awarded in compensatory damages earlier on Wednesday.
“We put the net worth of both companies in front of the jury,” Attorney Mark Lanier said outside the courthouse after the verdict was reached on Wednesday. “Now the jury goes back to make a decision whether or not it’s appropriate to put a financial fine, a punitive damage figure on this case.”
The jury later on Wednesday determined that both companies acted with malice, prompting it to recommend an additional $3 million in punitive damages.
“This is what is called a bellwether,” Lanier said after the jury awarded punitive damages. “I do think it bodes well for the other thousands of cases out there.”
Kaley testified that she began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9, and told the jury she was on social media “all day long” as a child, according to the Associated Press. TikTok and Snap settled before the trial began.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” Meta spokeswoman Ashly Nikkole Davis said outside the courthouse. “Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.
Google also plans to appeal, a company spokesperson told Reuters.
“It is our sincere hope that these social media companies will be more responsible when it comes to things that protect children,” Lanier said.
In a separate case, a jury in New Mexico on Tuesday found Meta liable for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children.
“The jury’s verdict is a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta’s choice to put profits over kids’ safety,” said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew. Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough.”
Meta also said it plans to appeal the New Mexico verdict.
Featured photo credit: By Busition – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
