Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP / Getty Images
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify before a Los Angeles jury Wednesday (February 18) in what could be a watershed moment for social media companies facing accusations their platforms were intentionally designed to addict young users.
The high-profile trial centers on a 20-year-old California woman identified as "Kaley" who claims she began compulsively using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9, leading to anxiety, depression, body image issues, and suicidal thoughts. Her case is the first of approximately 1,600 similar lawsuits to reach a jury trial.
Plaintiffs' attorney Mark Lanier has characterized the case as "as easy as ABC," which he says stands for "addicting the brains of children." The lawsuit alleges Meta and Google intentionally designed their platforms as "digital casinos" with features like infinite scroll, auto-play, likes, and push notifications to hook young users.
"These companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children," Lanier told jurors during opening statements. "And they did it on purpose."
The courtroom has been filled with bereaved parents holding photos of children who died after encountering harm on social media. Nearly a dozen parents gathered outside the Los Angeles Superior Court early Wednesday morning, joining hands as they awaited Zuckerberg's arrival.
Meta has strongly denied the allegations. "The question for the jury in Los Angeles is whether Instagram was a substantial factor in the plaintiff's mental health struggles," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "The evidence will show she faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media."
Last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified, disputing characterizations of Instagram use as an "addiction" while acknowledging what he described as "problematic use." He testified that there's always a tradeoff between "safety and speech."
The case represents a novel legal approach to circumvent Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has traditionally shielded tech companies from liability for user-posted content. Instead, plaintiffs are pursuing product liability claims, arguing the platforms themselves are defective products.
Both TikTok and Snapchat were originally named in the lawsuit but reached settlements before trial began.
The jury needs three-fourths agreement (9 out of 12 jurors) to reach a verdict. A win for Kaley could lead to substantial monetary damages and force platform-wide changes to social media apps, potentially setting a precedent for the hundreds of other pending cases.