Los Angeles Jury Finds Meta and Google Liable for Social Media Addiction

A Los Angeles jury found Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google liable on Wednesday for social media addiction in what legal experts and plaintiffs' attorneys described as a landmark case, awarding $3 million in compensatory damages to a 20-year-old woman identified in court proceedings only by the initials KGM. The jury, which deliberated for nearly nine days, concluded that both companies acted negligently and failed to adequately warn users of the risks associated with their platforms. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, was ordered to pay 70 percent of the $3 million award, with Alphabet's YouTube responsible for the remainder. The jury also found that the companies acted with fraud and intent, clearing the way for an additional round of punitive damages whose amount has yet to be determined. The trial, which ran for six weeks at Los Angeles Superior Court, is the first of its kind to reach a verdict in the United States.

A child's addiction claim drove the six-week trial KGM testified that she became addicted to YouTube at age six and to Instagram at age nine, and that her social media use caused depression, self-harm, strained family relationships, and difficulties at school. By age 13, her therapist had diagnosed her with body dysmorphic disorder and social phobia, both of which she attributes to her use of the platforms. The plaintiffs' legal strategy centered on platform design rather than content — a deliberate choice that made it harder for the companies to invoke legal protections typically available to online publishers. Specific features under scrutiny included infinite scrolling and video autoplay, which plaintiffs argued were engineered to maximize time spent on the apps. KGM's attorney, William Mark Lanier, addressed jurors during closing arguments, framing the platforms as deliberately engineered tools of addiction. „How do you make a child never put down the phone? That's called the engineering of addiction. They engineered it, they put these features on the phones. These are Trojan horses: they look wonderful and great ... but you invite them in and they take over.” — Mark Lanier via The Guardian Meta said it disagreed with the verdict and was reviewing its legal options, while both companies had rejected the allegations throughout the trial.

Zuckerberg testified as Snap and TikTok settled early Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testified before jurors during the proceedings, making the trial one of the highest-profile legal confrontations the company has faced over its treatment of young users. Snap and TikTok were originally named as defendants but settled with the plaintiff before the trial began, with the terms of those agreements not disclosed. The verdict arrived just one day after a separate jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties after finding the company had misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and failed to protect young users. 375 (million USD) — Meta fined in New Mexico the day before LA verdict Matthew Bergman, an attorney at the Seattle-based Social Media Victims Law Center who is leading related cases for other plaintiffs, described the outcome as a turning point. „This is a monumental inflection point in social media.” — Matthew Bergman via Reuters A further state trial involving Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles in July, according to Bergman.

Thousands of similar cases now watch for precedent The verdict is expected to carry significant weight for the broader legal landscape surrounding social media and youth safety, with the outcome potentially influencing thousands of similar lawsuits filed by parents, state attorneys general, and school districts across the United States. A separate federal case brought by several states and school districts against technology companies is expected to go to trial this summer in Oakland, California. Plaintiffs in multiple proceedings have drawn explicit comparisons to the litigation against tobacco companies in the 1990s, which ultimately forced those firms to pay billions of dollars after courts found they had concealed knowledge of their products' addictive and harmful properties. According to the Pew Research Center, at least half of American teenagers use YouTube or Instagram on a daily basis. At least 20 U.S. states enacted laws in the past year addressing social media usage and children, covering areas such as cellphone use in schools and age verification requirements for opening accounts, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. NetChoice, a trade association backed by Meta and Google among others, is separately seeking to invalidate age verification requirements in court. The U.S. Congress has not passed comprehensive federal legislation regulating social media.

The legal campaign against social media companies over harm to young users has drawn repeated comparisons to the tobacco litigation of the 1990s, when American courts and state attorneys general forced cigarette manufacturers to pay billions of dollars after finding they had publicly denied knowledge of their products' addictive and harmful effects. The Los Angeles trial, which began at the end of January 2026, is the first social media addiction case of its kind to reach a jury verdict in the United States. For years, major technology companies disputed allegations that deliberate design choices in their platforms fueled youth mental health problems. The debate has increasingly shifted from legislative chambers — where the U.S. Congress has declined to act comprehensively — to state courts and state legislatures.

Key events in the Meta/Google social media addiction case: — ; — ; — ; —