Overview
- Jurors in Los Angeles heard final appeals after roughly a month of testimony from addiction experts, therapists, engineers, and tech executives, and will soon begin deliberations.
- The plaintiff, identified as K.G.M. (Kaley), alleges early use of Instagram and YouTube fostered compulsive use that worsened depression and suicidal thoughts, and she testified the apps hurt her self-worth.
- Plaintiff’s counsel argued platforms were engineered to hook children for profit through features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications, and beauty filters.
- Meta and YouTube deny designing harmful or addictive products, emphasize other causes for the plaintiff’s struggles, and note testimony that YouTube is not designed to maximize time and is not a social media platform.
- TikTok and Snap settled before trial, and this first bellwether case from a consolidated docket involving more than 1,600 plaintiffs could influence future litigation strategies and settlements.