A Jury Just Found Meta and YouTube Liable in Addiction Case. They Must Pay $3 Million — and It’s Just the Beginning.
Meta and YouTube must pay $3 million in compensatory damages after a jury ruled their addictive app features caused mental health harm to a young user.
For the first time in history, a jury has ruled that social media features can cause personal injury. A California jury found Meta and YouTube liable for creating addictive products that harmed a now-20-year-old woman, validating a legal theory that social media apps can be as harmful as cigarettes.
The woman, identified as K.G.M., sued over features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations that she claimed led to anxiety and depression. The jury found both companies negligent in their app designs. Meta is responsible for 70% of the $3 million in damages, with YouTube paying the rest. Punitive damages are still to be decided.
The verdict follows another major loss for Meta in New Mexico, where a jury recently ordered the company to pay $375 million for failing to protect users from child predators. The legal headaches are far from over: Thousands of similar lawsuits against Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are now pending.
For the first time in history, a jury has ruled that social media features can cause personal injury. A California jury found Meta and YouTube liable for creating addictive products that harmed a now-20-year-old woman, validating a legal theory that social media apps can be as harmful as cigarettes.
The woman, identified as K.G.M., sued over features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations that she claimed led to anxiety and depression. The jury found both companies negligent in their app designs. Meta is responsible for 70% of the $3 million in damages, with YouTube paying the rest. Punitive damages are still to be decided.
The verdict follows another major loss for Meta in New Mexico, where a jury recently ordered the company to pay $375 million for failing to protect users from child predators. The legal headaches are far from over: Thousands of similar lawsuits against Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are now pending.
