Google – an Alphabet subsidiary – and Meta were yesterday found liable for designing platforms dangerous to children and teenagers in a landmark verdict that could force tech companies to rethink how they defend themselves against claims involving safety issues.
The verdict could mark a turning point in the global wave of backlash against platforms and how they perceive mental harm to underage users, more than two decades after the emergence of social media.
Specifically, Meta is ordered to pay $4.2 million in damages and Google $1.8 million.
The case involves a 20-year-old girl who was a minor when she filed the lawsuit and who was identified in court only by her first name, Kaylee.
This woman said that at a young age she became addicted to Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram because of their design to attract user interest.
The jury found that Google and Meta were negligent in the design of both apps and failed to warn of the dangers involved.
“Today’s verdict is a referendum – from a jury to an entire industry – that the time for accountability has arrived,” the lead plaintiff’s counsel said in a statement.
Meta shares closed up 0.3% and Google’s parent company Alphabet closed up 0.2% after the verdict and damages were announced.
Meta disagrees with the verdict and its lawyers are “reviewing our legal options,” a company spokesman said.
Google plans to appeal the ruling, a spokesman, Jose Castaneda, said.
Plaintiff’s lawyers in the Los Angeles court focused on platform design rather than content, making it harder for the companies to avoid liability.
The verdict is a “setback” for Meta and Google, said Jill Luria, a technology sector analyst at investment firm D.A. Davidson.
“This process will likely expand in future cases and appeals, but ultimately may force these companies to put in place consumer protections that may limit growth,” he said. Snap and TikTok were also defendants in the lawsuit. Both reached an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff, though the terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
EXCLUSIVE OPINION
Major technology companies in the US have faced increasing criticism over the past decade over the safety of children and teens. The debate has now shifted to the courts and state governments. The US Congress has refused to pass legislation regulating social media. At least 20 states passed laws last year on social media use and children, according to the independent National Conference of State Legislatures, an organization that tracks state laws.
The legislation includes bills that regulate the use of cellphones in schools and require users to verify their age to open a social media account. NetChoice, a trade association backed by tech companies like Meta and Google, is seeking to have the age verification requirements invalidated in court. A separate social media addiction case filed by several states and school districts against tech companies is expected to be heard this summer in federal court in Oakland, California.
Another state trial is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles in July, said Matthew Bergman, one of the lawyers leading the plaintiffs’ cases. It will involve Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat. Separately, a New Mexico court on Tuesday ruled that Meta violated state law in a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general, who accused the company of misleading users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and of enabling the sexual exploitation of children on those platforms.
At trial, the plaintiff’s lawyers tried to prove that Meta and Google intentionally targeted children and made decisions that put profit over safety. Meta’s lawyers pointed to the plaintiff’s difficult family life as a child as the cause of her mental health problems, while YouTube argued that use of the streaming platform was minimal.
The jury saw internal documents revealing how Meta and Google tried to attract younger users and heard executives, including Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, testify last month to defend the company’s decisions.
