L.A. jury finds Meta and Google liable for ‘defective’ and addictive app designs targeting minors

After nine days and more than 40 hours of deliberation, a Los Angeles jury delivered a landmark verdict on Wednesday, finding Instagram (Meta) and YouTube (Google) liable for intentionally designing their platforms to “hook” young users.

The court found that both platforms were engineered to encourage addictive behavior, awarding the plaintiff $3 million in compensatory damages. Responsibility for the award was split between the tech giants, with Meta assigned 70% of the liability and Google covering the remaining 30%.

The case centered on a 20-year-old Californian identified as “Kaley” (or KGM) to protect her privacy.

She testified that the platforms’ addictive designs fueled her depression and thoughts of self-harm. While both companies denied the claims — arguing that their platforms are safe and equipped with robust parental controls — the jury’s decision marks a significant legal shift in how social media design is held accountable.

 

“I stopped engaging with family because I was spending all my time on social media,” said Kaley.

José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, told FOX Business that the company disagreed with the verdict and planned to appeal. “This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site,” he said.

Meta also opposed the decision, stating, “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options.”

 

Nonetheless, jurors found that Meta and Google acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud,” resulting in punitive damages on top of the $3 million total compensatory damages.

TikTok and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, were also originally named as defendants — though they settled ahead of the trial for undisclosed sums, leaving Meta and YouTube remaining in the case.

Kaley had testified that her social media use began with YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9, telling the jury that checking Instagram was the first thing she did every morning and her last action before sleep. This constant engagement, she explained, led to significant struggles at school, at home, and with her mental health.

 

Her legal team, led by Mark Lanier, focused on specific design features like YouTube’s “autoplay,” which allows videos to play endlessly and automatically. Kaley shared that she has since been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia. When asked if she had experienced these conditions prior to using social media, she testified, saying “No, I didn’t.”

In their defense, attorneys for Meta and Google argued that “social media addiction” is not an official medical diagnosis and noted that Kaley had never sought treatment for it.

Meanwhile, the trial is now viewed as a pivotal moment in the debate over whether tech platforms can be held legally responsible for the psychological well-being of their youngest users.

Historically, large tech platforms have been shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects companies from liability over the content users post. However, this landmark trial underscores that product design — the specific engineering used to hook users — does not fall under that same legal protection.

This verdict follows a series of massive legal blows for Meta, including a $375 million judgment in a separate New Mexico case involving the platform’s failure to prevent child sexual exploitation.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez hailed the decision as a major step toward justice, coinciding with a critical Delaware court ruling that cleared Meta’s insurers of responsibility for damages. By stripping away their insurance coverage, the court has forced Meta to fund its own defense and pay for potential settlements in thousands of similar lawsuits out of its own pocket.

“Juries in New Mexico and California have recognized that Meta’s public deception and design features are putting children in harm’s way. In the next phase of New Mexico’s trial, my number one priority remains changing the company’s longstanding and dangerous practice of prioritizing profits over children’s safety. We will seek court-mandated changes to Meta’s platforms that offer protections for kids,” Torrez said.

2,407 social media harm lawsuits have already been filed against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, along with more than a thousand school districts and 43 states filed on the behalf of children who have used Meta’s platforms.