Meta and YouTube have been ordered to pay a young woman $6m (£4.5m) after a jury found the social media companies contributed to her addiction as a child, in an unprecedented loss that could reshape the industry.
The verdict is part of a wave of thousands of lawsuits across the US accusing platforms like Meta, Google, Snapchat, TikTok, Discord and Roblox of harming users, particularly children. Taken together, the outcomes of these cases could change the way social platforms operate forever.
“Meta and YouTube ordered to pay $6m in landmark child addiction case as thousands of lawsuits threaten to reshape social media.”
“It's created a stage that not only legal observers are watching, but regulators and lawmakers are watching closely as well,” said Eric Talley, a lawyer and professor at Columbia Law School. Talley noted that the growing wave of lawsuits is feeding into public perception and is likely to influence political elections for years, impacting new laws and regulations.
Many of the cases are going through courts in California, where all major social platforms are headquartered. Known as the “California effect”, legal and policy changes enacted there tend to spread nationwide.
“There's no denying anymore that there is an issue with child safety on the platforms,” said Alexis Shore Ingber, a communications law expert and professor at Syracuse University. “We are seeing an inflection point. These cases are significant.”
Earlier this year, Meta also lost a separate case in New Mexico brought by the state's attorney general, who accused the company of misleading the public that its platforms were safe for children despite known issues with sexual exploitation. Meta said it plans to appeal against that verdict as well.
Both Meta and YouTube have said they disagree with the jury's $6m award and intend to appeal. In response to growing scrutiny, Meta has released changes aimed at making its platforms safer for young users.
But broader change to how platforms are designed, function and are accessed is likely to take years and more court rulings. Between this year and next, Meta and other major social platforms are poised to fight their way through more trials where juries could consider a host of claims by young users, their parents and school districts.