A California jury has delivered a landmark verdict finding Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for deliberately designing their platforms to addict a young woman and damage her mental health, ordering the two tech giants to pay $6 million in damages.
A California jury on Wednesday found that Meta and Google’s YouTube were to blame for the depression and anxiety of a woman who compulsively used social media as a small child, awarding her $6 million in a rare verdict holding Silicon Valley accountable for its role in fueling a youth mental health crisis.
The jurors concluded that Meta and Google should pay the woman $3 million in compensatory damages and an additional $3 million in punitive damages, with Meta on the hook for 70 percent of that amount.
The plaintiff, identified only as Kaley or KGM to protect her privacy, is a now 20-year-old woman from Chico, California. She and her mother sued Meta, Google’s YouTube, Snap and TikTok, accusing them of intentionally hooking her as a child and causing her to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. Snap and TikTok settled the case before trial.
Kaley testified that she began using YouTube when she was just six years old and Instagram when she was 11.
The evidence presented against Meta during the five-week trial was damning.
KGM’s legal team showed the jury internal documents from Meta in which CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives described the company’s efforts to attract and keep kids and teens on its platforms. One document said “If we wanna win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens.”
Another internal memo showed that 11-year-olds were four times as likely to keep coming back to Instagram compared with competing apps despite the platform requiring users to be at least 13 years old.
The jury returned an answer of yes to every question posed relating to negligence and failure to warn of dangers. Ten jurors were in favour of the plaintiff for every question, with only two in favour of the defence.
The breakdown of the $6 million award reflects how the jury apportioned blame. Meta was ordered to pay 70 percent of the compensatory damages and Google 30 percent for a total of $3 million. Hours later the jury ordered Meta to pay another $2.1 million and Google an additional $900,000 in punitive damages bringing Meta’s total liability to $4.2 million and Google’s to $1.8 million.
The jury also delivered a message through their own words. One juror who gave her name only as Victoria said the jury wanted to send a message to the companies. “We wanted them to feel it. We wanted them to realize this was unacceptable.”
Both companies vowed to appeal.
The decision is a crucial moment of accountability for families and advocates who for years have called for more social media guardrails. Parents who say their children were harmed or died because of social media travelled from around the United States to attend the Los Angeles trial. Many of those parents hope the decision will inspire Congress to pass more comprehensive online safety legislation.
