Meta Platforms, which brought in tens of billions in revenue last year, has been fined $4.2 million — combined compensatory and punitive damages — by a jury in Los Angeles for the harm caused to a young woman, known as Kaley G.M.
She said her addiction to social media platforms resulted in significant mental struggles. Google was also fined $1.8 million for YouTube being addictive to children and teenagers.
Hours before the verdict, in a separate case, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in penalties for failing to protect children from sexually explicit content.
According to some legal experts, the back-to-back verdicts for Meta could ultimately force social media companies to change how platforms are designed and how products are delivered to billions of users. It is also likely to factor into similar cases expected to go to trial this year.
The lawsuits are also testing how far Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act of 1996 can protect social media companies from liability for what their users post.
The Los Angeles case is being compared to the 1990s crackdown on Big Tobacco, which focused on the addictive qualities of cigarettes. A few companies were accused of hiding information about the harms of cigarettes. They reached a $206 billion master settlement with more than 40 states in 1998, leading to an agreement to stop marketing to minors.
The case of 20-year-old Kaley G.M. alleges that some of the features social media companies built into their platforms, such as an infinitely scrollable feed and video autoplay, are making the products addictive.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan said in a statement. “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.”
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.”
Kaley testified that she started using YouTube at the age of six, and Instagram aged nine, which ultimately led to anxiety and depression. Her social media use allegedly caused strained relationships with her family and at school. When she was 13, her therapist diagnosed her with body dysmorphic disorder and social phobia.
The case is being closely watched by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have used their charitable organisation, Archewell, to campaign for better digital safety.
They said in a statement: “The floodgates are now open. There will be more cases, more demands for reform, and more insistence on responsibility. The question is no longer whether social media must change — it’s when, and how fast.”
In the UK, hundreds of teenagers will be banned from social media in a trial by the government to measure the impact on their well-being. On Wednesday evening, members of the House of Lords supported a social media ban for under-16s for the second time, voting 266 to 141.
TikTok and Snap both settled with Kaley for undisclosed terms before the Los Angeles trial started.
