Meta, TikTok and YouTube will face a historic trial in the US this week, amid accusations that their platforms have fostered addiction and worsened the mental health of young people, in what is being considered a new phase of the national debate over the time children spend in front of screens.
The trial, which is being held in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, is related to a lawsuit by a 19-year-old California woman, identified as KGM, who claims she became addicted to social media at a young age because of its attention-grabbing design. The lawsuit says the apps have fueled her depression and self-harming thoughts, and she is seeking legal liability from the companies.
This is the first of a series of lawsuits expected this year over what the plaintiffs call “social media addiction” in children. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Matthew Bergman, said that for the first time, the tech giants will have to defend themselves in court, not just in political hearings. “They will be subject to a level of scrutiny that doesn’t exist when testifying before Congress,” he said.
Lawyers will decide whether the companies were negligent in providing the products that harmed the plaintiff's mental health, and whether the use of the apps was a significant factor in her depression, alongside other factors such as third-party content or her offline life.
The case is considered a key test for the legal theory that social platforms can be held liable for psychological harm. “This is a test case. We’ll see if these theories hold up,” said Clay Calvert, a media lawyer at the American Enterprise Institute.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also expected to testify in court, while the company will argue that its products are not the cause of KGM's mental health problems. Meanwhile, Snap, Snapchat's parent company, reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiff on January 20 and will not pursue the lawsuit.
YouTube is expected to defend the position that its platform is fundamentally different from social networks like Instagram and TikTok, while TikTok has not commented publicly on its legal strategy.
In parallel with the launch of the trial, these companies are conducting a national campaign to convince the public that their products are safe for teenagers, promoting new parental control tools and investing millions of dollars in their public image.
