A California jury’s verdict against the tech giants over addictive platform design could reshape thousands of pending lawsuits from parents, states, and school districts.
LOS ANGELES — In a landmark decision that threatens to upend decades of legal protection for major tech platforms, a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Google and Meta liable in a social media addiction lawsuit brought by a young woman who said she became hooked on their apps as a child.
The verdict marks a significant turning point in the growing legal battle over youth mental health and online safety. It is expected to influence thousands of similar cases filed by parents, attorneys general, and school districts across the United States—an effort amplified by data from the Pew Research Center showing that at least half of American teens use YouTube or Instagram daily.
Central to the plaintiffs’ victory was a deliberate legal strategy: rather than targeting objectionable content on the platforms, attorneys focused on platform design. They argued that features such as infinite scroll, push notifications, and algorithmic recommendations were engineered to maximize engagement, effectively addicting young users. By framing the case around design rather than content, plaintiffs made it significantly harder for the companies to invoke the federal immunity that often shields online platforms from liability.
Snap and TikTok were originally named as defendants in the trial but settled with the plaintiff before proceedings began. Terms of those settlements were not disclosed.
Mounting Legal Pressure
The ruling arrives amid intensifying scrutiny of large technology companies over child and teen safety. With the U.S. Congress failing to pass comprehensive federal legislation regulating social media, the fight has increasingly moved to statehouses and courtrooms.
At least 20 states enacted laws last year addressing social media use and children, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. These laws range from restricting cellphone use in schools to requiring age verification for new social media accounts. NetChoice, a trade association backed by Meta and Google, is actively challenging the constitutionality of age-verification requirements in court.
The legal onslaught against tech companies shows no signs of slowing. A sprawling social media addiction case brought by a coalition of states and school districts is scheduled for trial this summer in federal court in Oakland, California. Another state trial, involving Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat, is set to begin in Los Angeles in July, said Matthew Bergman, an attorney leading multiple cases for plaintiffs.
In a separate development, a New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta liable in a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general, who accused the company of misleading users about safety on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and of enabling child sexual exploitation on those platforms.
