Six-week trial including whistleblowers and top executives at Meta and YouTube was first of its kind to go to trial
Meta and YouTube have been found liable for negligence for deliberately designing addictive products that hooked a young user and led to her being harmed, a jury ruled on Wednesday. The tech companies have also been found liable for failure to warn. The jury awarded the plaintiffs in the case compensatory damages of $3m.
It took nearly nine days of deliberations for the Los Angeles jury to reach its verdict. Jurors also awarded punitive damages, which will be decided during the next phase of the trial.
The lawsuit over social media’s alleged harm to young people was the first of its kind to go to trial.
Over the course of the six-week trial, which took place in Los Angeles superior court, jurors heard from top executives at Meta and YouTube, whistleblowers, expert witnesses on social media and addiction, and a 20-year-old woman at the center of the lawsuit, who has gone by the initials KGM for court proceedings.
