Overview
- A California jury found Meta and YouTube liable for negligence and failure to warn in a six‑week trial, awarding $6 million to a 20‑year‑old known as K.G.M. who described depression, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts.
- Days earlier in a separate case, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for enabling child sexual exploitation, and both companies have said they will appeal the verdicts.
- Plaintiffs avoided Section 230 defenses by attacking product design features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, recommendation feeds and beauty filters, citing internal emails to argue the firms knew these tools would hook preteens.
- TikTok and Snap settled related claims before trial, and thousands of similar suits are now pending against major platforms along with coordinated actions by state attorneys general.
- Experts highlight brain science showing teens’ reward systems outpace impulse control, a gap that helps explain renewed calls for age checks, product redesign and digital literacy rules in countries considering stronger safeguards.