Meta, TikTok, YouTube to stand trial on youth addiction claims
- Tech giants promote safety tools, face public opinion battle
- Meta CEO Zuckerberg to testify in trial
- Teen blames her depression on social media usage
Meta Platforms, TikTok and YouTube will face courtroom scrutiny this week over allegations that their platforms are fueling a youth mental health crisis, as the national debate about kids' screen time enters a new phase.
The bellwether trial in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County involves a 19-year-old woman from California, identified as KGM, who says she became addicted to the companies' platforms at a young age because of their attention-grabbing design, according to court filings. She alleges the apps fueled her depression and suicidal thoughts and is seeking to hold the companies liable.
Her lawsuit is the first of several cases expected to go to trial this year that center on what the plaintiffs call "social media addiction" among children. It will be the first time the tech giants must defend themselves at trial over alleged harm caused by their products, the plaintiff's attorney Matthew Bergman said. "They will be under a level of scrutiny that does not exist when you testify in front of Congress," he told Reuters.
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The jury will decide whether the companies were negligent in providing products that harmed K.G.M.'s mental health, and if her use of the apps was a substantial factor in her depression, compared with other causes such as the third-party content she viewed on the apps or aspects of her life offline.
"This is really a test case," said Clay Calvert, a media lawyer at the American Enterprise Institute, a pro-business think tank. "We're going to see what happens with these theories" that the social media platforms caused the plaintiff harm.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is expected to take the witness stand. The company will argue in court that its products did not lead to K.G.M.'s mental health challenges, Meta's lawyers told Reuters ahead of the trial. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel was also expected to testify, as his company was named a defendant in the lawsuit. Snap agreed on January 20 to settle K.G.M.'s lawsuit. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the deal.
YouTube will argue that the company's platforms are fundamentally different from social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, and should not be lumped together in court, a YouTube executive said ahead of the trial.
TikTok declined to comment about the company's planned arguments in court.
SHAPING PUBLIC OPINION
As the trial begins, the same tech companies are mounting a nationwide effort to convince critics that their products are safe for teens. They've launched tools they say give parents more control over how their kids use the platforms and have spent millions of dollars promoting those features.
Since at least 2018, Meta has sponsored parent workshops about teen online safety at dozens of high schools across the U.S. The company hosted one of those workshops, dubbed Screen Smart, in 2024 in Los Angeles, alongside National PTA President Yvonne Johnson and Meta safety chief Antigone Davis. National PTA is a nonprofit that advocates for child welfare.
TikTok also sponsored similar gatherings, led by 100 local and regional PTAs, calling it Create with Kindness, according to the company's website. The program included tutorials on TikTok's features for parents, including the option to limit screen time at night, according to the curriculum.
YouTube's parent company Google in recent years has turned to Girl Scouts to convince the public it is invested in kids' online safety. Girls can earn a patch, which features Google's logo, to affix to their uniform after completing lessons about strong passwords, being kind online and digital privacy, according to the Girl Scouts website.
The companies have also hired lawyers that have represented corporations in high-profile litigation involving addiction.
Meta has hired Covington & Burling attorneys who represented McKesson in sprawling litigation related to the opioid epidemic, according to public biographies of the attorneys. TikTok's counsel, meanwhile, represented Activision Blizzard and Microsoft in a dispute about video game design and addiction.
"These companies are using every lever of influence that you can imagine," said Julie Scelfo, founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction, a group that supports smartphone bans in schools. "It can be very confusing for parents who to trust."
