A Los Angeles County jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in the first social media addiction case to reach trial in the US, awarding $6 million in total damages to a 20-year-old California woman who alleged the platforms’ design features caused serious mental illness during her childhood.
The jury held Meta responsible for 70% of the harm and YouTube for 30%, splitting $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages between the two companies.
Meta bears $4.2 million of the total award; YouTube owes $1.8 million. The jury also found the companies acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud,” the legal threshold required to impose punitive damages under California law.
The plaintiff — identified in court documents by the initials K.G.M. and referred to throughout the trial as Kaley — alleged that Instagram and YouTube’s recommendation algorithms, auto-play features, and notification systems hooked her as a minor and contributed to body dysmorphia, depression, and suicidal ideation. She reportedly began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9.
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Jurors deliberated more than 40 hours across nine days following a trial that included testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri. The verdict was not unanimous — California civil law required only 9 of 12 jurors to agree on each claim, and two consistently voted against liability.
Both companies said they plan to appeal.
“Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different.” A Google spokesperson called the ruling a mischaracterization, saying it “misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”
The case serves as a bellwether for more than 1,600 similar lawsuits brought by families and school districts. Snap and TikTok settled with Kaley before the trial began.
A parallel federal proceeding, In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, continues in the Northern District of California before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, with a federal trial involving school district claims scheduled for later this year.
Attorney Matt Bergman of the Social Media Victims Law Center said the verdict “establishes a framework for how similar cases across the country will be evaluated and demonstrates that juries are willing to hold technology companies accountable when the evidence shows foreseeable harm.”
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