(Yahoo! Finance) - The jury in a landmark lawsuit against social media companies ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on Wednesday, holding (META) and YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL) liable and requiring them to pay $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages.
The case, known as JCCP 5255, was initially filed in 2023 and was tried at the Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles. It revolved around a now-20-year-old woman known in legal filings as K.G.M. and her mother, Karen, who alleged that K.G.M.'s social media use, which began when she was 10, led to "dangerous dependency on [the social media companies' products], anxiety, depression, self-harm, and body dysmorphia."
The jury in the case said that both Meta and YouTube knew the design of their platforms were dangerous, that users wouldn't realize the danger, and that the companies failed to warn of the danger when a reasonable platform would have.
"This verdict is bigger than one case," the plaintiffs' lead counsel said in a statement following the results.
"For years, social media companies have profited from targeting children while concealing their addictive and dangerous design features. Today’s verdict is a referendum — from a jury, to an entire industry — that accountability has arrived."
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said, "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options.”
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement, "We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal. This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site."
What makes the Los Angeles case unique is that, rather than trying to persuade the jury that the content on Meta and YouTube is harmful, the plaintiff's attorneys framed the case around the actual design of the social media platforms.
That allowed them to circumvent arguments related to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that protects companies from liability for what their users post on their platforms.
Meta and YouTube disputed the claims during the trial, saying that they worked for years to improve the safety of their products.
TikTok and Snap (SNAP) were also named defendants in the lawsuit, but each settled before the trial began.
The Los Angeles case follows a separate verdict in New Mexico's own lawsuit against Meta in which the state accused the company of misleading its users about the safety of its products and endangering children.
On March 24, the jury in the New Mexico case found Meta liable, ordering the company to pay $375 million in penalties.
“The substantial damages the jury ordered Meta to pay should send a clear message to Big Tech executives that no company is beyond the reach of the law," New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said following the verdict.
"This is a watershed moment for every parent concerned about what could happen to their kids when they go online — and this victory belongs to them.”
The Los Angeles suit is seen as a bellwether for thousands of other lawsuits filed by or on behalf of users, as well as school districts and states across the country that have made similar accusations against social media platforms.
Experts have been warning for years that social media use could lead to certain mental health issues. In 2023, the American Psychological Association issued an advisory stating that while social media isn't inherently beneficial or harmful, teens shouldn't use the technology in ways that could interfere with their sleep or physical activity.
In a 2024 opinion piece for the New York Times, then-US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said there should be a surgeon general's warning label on social media sites stating they are associated with "significant mental health harms for adolescents."
By Daniel Howley - Technology Editor
