https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html

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Social Media on Trial

  * Companies Found Negligent
  * Child Safety Trial Against Meta
  * Snap Settles

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Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction
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A jury found the companies harmed a young user with design features
that were addictive and led to her mental health distress.

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Mark Zuckerberg, wearing a suit and tie, walks down steps outside a
marble building surrounded by other people.
Meta's chairman and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, at Los Angeles
Superior Court last month.Credit...Mark Abramson for The New York
Times
Cecilia KangRyan MacEli Tan

By Cecilia KangRyan Mac and Eli Tan

Cecilia Kang reported from Washington, Ryan Mac from the California
Superior Court in Los Angeles County and Eli Tan from San Francisco.

March 25, 2026Updated 5:36 p.m. ET

The social media company Meta and the video streaming service YouTube
harmed a young user with design features that were addictive and led
to her mental health distress, a jury found on Wednesday, a landmark
decision that could open social media companies to more lawsuits over
users' well-being.

Meta must pay $4.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive
damages, and YouTube must pay $1.8 million.

The bellwether case, which was brought by a now 20-year-old woman
identified as K.G.M., had accused social media companies of creating
products as addictive as cigarettes or digital casinos. Citing
features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations, K.G.M.
sued Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, and Google's YouTube,
claiming they led to anxiety and depression.

The verdict in K.G.M.'s case -- one of thousands of lawsuits filed by
teenagers, school districts and state attorneys general against Meta,
YouTube, TikTok and Snap, which owns Snapchat -- was a major win for
the plaintiffs. The finding validates a novel legal theory that
social media sites or apps can cause personal injury. It is likely to
factor into similar cases expected to go to trial this year, which
could expose the internet giants to further financial damages and
force changes to their products.

Image
Luis Li, the attorney representing YouTube and Google, arrives at the
court after the jury reached a verdict in the bellwether case.
Credit...Mike Blake/Reuters

The personal liability argument draws inspiration from a legal
playbook used against Big Tobacco last century, in which lawyers
argued that the companies created addictive products that harmed
users. The companies have largely dodged legal threats by citing a
federal shield, called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
of 1996, which protects them from liability for what their users
post.

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