Overview
- A Los Angeles jury on March 25 found Meta and Google negligent in designing Instagram and YouTube and awarded $6 million, assigning 70% of fault to Meta and 30% to Google.
- A New Mexico jury the day before found Meta liable under the state consumer law for misleading people about platform safety and for enabling child sexual exploitation.
- Plaintiffs argued the harm came from design choices—like infinite scroll, autoplay, ranking, and notifications—aimed at keeping users engaged, which seeks to bypass Section 230’s shield for user posts.
- Discovery exposed internal Meta communications that, according to filings, flagged youth harms tied to these features, creating a factual record that could shape thousands of pending suits.
- Meta and Google plan to appeal, raising fights over Section 230 and the First Amendment as civil-liberties groups warn that targeting design choices could also constrain protected speech.