The Los Angeles jury delivered its decision on Wednesday, finding Meta and YouTube negligent in a lawsuit filed by a 20-year-old woman who claimed the platforms addicted her as a teenager and worsened her depression. The companies were ordered to pay a combined $6 million in damages to the plaintiff, identified in court records as K.G.M.
Both Meta and YouTube stated they would appeal. The ruling comes as social media companies face increasing legal pressure over their role in youth mental health crises. Thousands of similar lawsuits are pending in U.S. courts, with some observers drawing parallels to the lawsuits against Big Tobacco that transformed industry standards.
Designing for addiction
The lawsuit accused Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat of intentionally creating addictive products that altered how children think and behave. New evidence and testimony presented during the trial suggested the companies knew about the risks but did not act. TikTok and Snap settled with K.G.M. before the trial, leaving Meta and YouTube to face the verdict alone.
Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, described the decision as a turning point. “The era of Big Tech invincibility is over—this ruling shakes the industry’s predatory business model,” she said. “New evidence and testimony have pulled back the curtain and validated the harms young people and parents have been telling the world about for years. These products were purposefully designed to harm, addict millions of young people, and lead to lifelong mental health consequences.”
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In other regions, legal approaches have prioritized broader societal risks over individual harm. Governments in India, Indonesia, and Brazil have enacted laws requiring faster removal of harmful content, citing failures to address disinformation, hate speech, and exploitation. In Myanmar, Facebook faced accusations from the United Nations for amplifying hate speech that contributed to the 2017 Rohingya genocide. The company later admitted its role in Sri Lanka’s 2018 anti-Muslim riots and its inability to prevent violence in Ethiopia’s civil conflict.
Resources shift, risks rise
The verdict may lead Meta and Google to allocate more resources to their U.S. operations, where legal and reputational risks are growing. Kate Ruane, a director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, noted that this shift could have consequences. “Reducing trust and safety efforts in other countries may increase risks for users in those regions,” she said.
Some governments are moving to restrict minors’ access entirely. Brazil’s new child-safety law requires age verification, limits design practices that encourage compulsive use, and strengthens rules against digital crimes. Indonesia and Malaysia are considering laws to keep young users off social media sites, as are several Indian states. Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, executive director of the Tech Global Institute and a former Meta public policy head in Bangladesh, called the ruling a “precedent in platform accountability,” particularly in recognizing the role of algorithms in scaling harm.
Diya also warned about potential overreach. “There is a risk that countries may impose even more pervasive restrictions on children’s access to social media, likely risking essential privacy guardrails,” she said. “Well before the verdict, we’ve been seeing age assurance and age-gating picking up. There should be more discussions and guardrails on advertising and targeting children, and parental controls, to protect children online.”
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A New Mexico court recently ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. That case, along with the Los Angeles verdict, reflects growing legal and public opposition to the industry’s long-standing immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects platforms from liability for user content.
The appeals process for the ruling may take years. The case has already become a key reference for plaintiffs, regulators, and lawmakers worldwide. Meanwhile, the companies continue expanding globally despite the changing legal environment.
As legal challenges mount, some developers are exploring alternatives to traditional social media models. AI tools now allow individuals to create interactive experiences without relying on large platforms, offering new ways to engage audiences while reducing exposure to algorithmic harm.
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