Overview
- - A Los Angeles jury, which reached its decision Wednesday, found Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for using features like infinite scroll and auto-play that a young user said fueled addiction and mental health harms, awarding $6 million with Meta responsible for 70% and Google for 30%.
- - In New Mexico on Tuesday, jurors ruled Meta violated state consumer-protection law and misled families about safety, imposing $375 million in civil penalties and sending the case to a May phase where the state will seek age checks, algorithm changes, and outside monitoring.
- - Meta’s chief legal officer said the company will “aggressively” appeal and rejects blame for the teen mental health crisis, while Google argues the California verdict misunderstands YouTube as it describes the service as a streaming platform rather than a social network.
- - The rulings validate a design-based legal theory that targets product architecture—recommendation algorithms, notifications, and endless feeds—as the source of harm, a strategy that sidesteps Section 230’s shield for user content and could spur many more suits after TikTok and Snap settled before trial.
- - Reactions split along lines of accountability, with advocates calling this a Big Tobacco-style reckoning and some commentators faulting parents for early phone access, and the outcomes could pressure courts and regulators to force product changes and real age verification in the months ahead.