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In a groundbreaking legal ruling, Meta and YouTube have been held accountable for causing harm to children, resulting in a $3 million payout by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
A California jury determined that the companies were “negligent in the design or operation of their platforms,” highlighting significant flaws in their systems.
The lawsuit was initiated by a 20-year-old woman who argued that her childhood exposure to social media led to addiction and worsened her mental health issues.
After more than 40 hours of deliberation over nine days, the jury reached its verdict, which included compensation for the victim and a condemnation of the tech giants’ platform designs.
Furthermore, the jury found that Meta and YouTube had “acted with malice, oppression or fraud,” prompting additional proceedings to determine punitive damages.
The victim, identified only as KGM or “Kaley”, said she began using YouTube at the age of 6 and Instagram at the age of 9.
She described being on social media “all day long”, with her lawyers arguing they had features designed to “hook” young users, such as the “infinite” nature of feeds.
Meta consistently argued that Kaley had struggled with her mental health separate from her social media use, often pointing to her turbulent home life.
Meta also said “not one of her therapists identified social media as the cause” of her mental health issues in a statement following closing arguments.
YouTube argued it was not a form of social media, but rather a video platform akin to television, and pointed to her declining use of the platform as she got older.
It was determined that Meta and YouTube knew that the design of their platforms was dangerous or was likely to be dangerous when used by a minor. The jurors also said the platforms failed to adequately warn of the danger, which further contributed to the plaintiff’s harm.
Meta and Google-owned YouTube were the two remaining defendants in the case after TikTok and Snap each settled before the trial began.
– Reported with Associated Press
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