A jury on Wednesday ordered Meta and Google to pay $3 million to a 20-year-old woman who alleged that she was addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child.
The jury of seven women and five men found the companies liable for product design features that harmed the plaintiff’s mental health. Meta was ordered to pay 70% of the damages, with Google responsible for the remaining 30%. A separate proceeding will determine the amount of punitive damages.
The lawsuit is one among thousands nationwide to allege that companies like Meta and Google are responsible for making addictive products that have harmful effects. The case is the first of them to go to trial, and is considered a “bellwether” to assess how other claims could be resolved.
The plaintiff, Kaley G.M., testified in February that she created YouTube and Instagram accounts when she was 8 and 9, respectively. As a young girl, she was soon spending all her free time on Instagram.
“I was on it every single day,” she said. “First thing when I woke up, right after school, and then late at night.”
She alleged that she gave up other hobbies and that the apps led her to suffer from anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also testified at the trial, which was held in Los Angeles Superior Court in downtown L.A. Zuckerberg defended the choices made at Instagram, particularly around beauty filters, saying that the company is trying to strike the right balance between potentially harmful content and free expression.
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Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, also testified, saying he did not believe it was possible to be addicted to social media apps.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that design choices — like “infinite scroll” — were intended to keep users hooked on the apps, which led to greater usage time and ultimately helped both companies’ bottom lines.
TikTok and Snap were also named as defendants in the case, but settled before the trial.
From Variety US