A California jury has ruled in favor of a 20-year-old woman who filed complaints against Meta and YouTube for negligence. The jury ordered Meta to pay $3 million in compensatory damages after concluding that its platforms are liable on all counts for causing the woman to be addicted to social media and harming her mental health.
Meta and YouTube fail to warn social media users about the risk of addiction and about how people’s mental health may be affected by using the platforms, the ruling added, per CNN.
Who was the woman who filed the lawsuit against Meta and YouTube?
A 20-year-old woman named Kaley filed a lawsuit against Meta, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok, saying the social media platforms are intentionally built to be addictive to young people such as herself. Kaley, who filed the lawsuit with her mother, said the platforms caused her to become suicidal while developing anxiety and body dysmorphia.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Kaley said she was only in elementary school when she became addicted to YouTube and Instagram. Because the allegations raised in the lawsuit started when she was still a minor, Kaley is only identified by her first name in court, CNN reported. The 20-year-old said in her lawsuit that she only used YouTube for a short time each day, but still became addicted.
What did attorneys for YouTube say in defense of the platform?
While Kaley aimed to hold Meta accountable for her addiction, the defendants said the company does not take responsibility for what happened to the young woman.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” a Meta spokesperson told CNN. “Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
The jury made its ruling in front of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday after a seven-week trial in Los Angeles. A day earlier, a New Mexico jury also ruled against Zuckerberg’s company after Atty. Gen. Raúl Torres brought accusations against Instagram, saying the platform has turned into a “breeding ground” for predators.
More than 1,500 similar cases have been filed against Meta after Kaley sued the company for negligence. Meta continues to defend itself, saying the platform has tools to protect teens’ privacy and well-being.
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