Landmark social media trial to begin over addiction charges

A landmark social media addiction trial is set to begin in California on Tuesday, with top tech executives expected to testify.

The plaintiff, a 19-year-old woman who goes by the initials KGM, claimed that the design of the platform’s algorithm made her addicted to social media and had a negative impact on her mental health.

Defendants include Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, TikTok owner ByteDance and YouTube parent Google. Snapchat reached settlement with plaintiffs last week.

The high-profile case in Los Angeles Superior Court is the first in a wave of lawsuits that could challenge legal theories used by U.S. technology companies to shield themselves from culpability.

The named social media companies said the plaintiffs’ evidence was insufficient to prove they were responsible for alleged harms such as depression and eating disorders.

The case, which is headed to trial, marks a marked shift in the way the U.S. legal system treats technology companies, amid growing claims that their products cause addictive behavior.

The companies have long argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, passed by Congress in 1996, exempts platforms from liability for content posted by third parties.

But in this case, the problem lies in the algorithms, notifications, and other design choices that impact how people use the app’s features.

KGM’s lawyer Matthew Bergman told the BBC the case would be the first time a jury has held a social media company accountable at trial.

“Unfortunately, too many children in the US, UK and around the world are suffering as KGM did because social media platforms force dangerous and addictive algorithms onto unsuspecting children,” he said.

“These companies must explain to a jury why their profits are more important than the lives of our young people.”

Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman told the BBC that losing these cases in court could pose an existential threat to social media companies.

But he said it may be difficult for plaintiffs to prove physical harm can be attributed to content publishers.

“The fact that the plaintiffs were able to sell this idea opens the door to a whole new set of legal issues that the law doesn’t really address,” he said.

At the trial, jurors are expected to see a range of evidence, including excerpts from internal company documents.

“A lot of what these companies have been trying to hide from the public will likely come out in court,” said Mary Graw Leary, a law professor at The Catholic University of America.

Meta has previously said it has rolled out dozens of tools to support a safe online environment for teens, but some researchers have raised questions about the effectiveness of recent measures.

The companies are expected to argue that any alleged harm was caused by third-party users.

One of the highly anticipated witnesses the jury will hear is Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, who is set to testify early in the trial.

In 2024, he told U.S. senators that “existing scientific work has not shown any causal link between social media and poorer mental health in young people.”

At the same hearing, at the urging of a senator, Zuckerberg apologized to the victims and their loved ones who packed the chamber.

Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University, said tech executives “tend to be bad at dealing with pressure.”

She said the companies were “very interested” in avoiding testimony from senior leaders.

The trial comes as the companies face increasing scrutiny from families, school districts and prosecutors around the world.

Last year, dozens of U.S. states sued Meta, accusing the company of misleading the public about the risks of social media use and contributing to a teen mental health crisis.

Australia has enacted a social media ban for under-16s, and Britain said in January it might follow suit.

“The harms of social media have reached a tipping point,” Franks said.

“The tech industry is respected – and I think we’re seeing that start to change.”