Instagram, TikTok, YouTube face trial over claims platforms deliberately addicting, harming youth

Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, and Google's YouTube are facing trial over claims that the social media platforms are deliberately addicting and harming youth.

This week, jury selection in the trial begins in Los Angeles County Superior Court, The Associated Press reported. The trial is the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the result could significantly impact their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms.

Jury selection is expected to take at least a few days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day through at least Thursday. Snapchat's parent company, Snap Inc., which was named in the lawsuit, settled the case last week for an undisclosed amount.

A 19-year-old female, identified only by the initials “KGM,” is at the core of the case that could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will unfold.

In KGM's lawsuit, she claims that her use of social media from an early age addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. The lawsuit claims that this occurred through deliberate design choices made by companies that sought to make their platforms more addictive to children to boost profits. 

If the argument is successful, then it could sidestep the companies’ First Amendment shield and Section 230, which protects them from liability for material posted on their platforms.

“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” according to the lawsuit.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among other executives, is expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks.

“Plaintiffs are not merely the collateral damage of Defendants’ products,” the lawsuit states. “They are the direct victims of the intentional product design choices made by each Defendant. They are the intended targets of the harmful features that pushed them into self-destructive feedback loops.”

The tech companies have pushed back on the claims that their products deliberately harm children, citing several safeguards that they have added over the years, while also arguing that they are not liable for content posted on their sites by third parties.

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement Monday that the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and that it’s “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

Google spokesperson José Castañeda said Monday that the allegations against YouTube are “simply not true,” adding, “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to the AP's request for comment on Monday.