Chicago – March 25, 2026
A California jury has found Meta and YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction case, marking a pivotal moment for Big Tech’s legal exposure over youth mental health harms.
The Los Angeles County jury ruled that the platforms’ addictive design features and failure to adequately warn users contributed to years of anxiety and depression suffered by a 20‑year‑old woman who began using YouTube at age six and Instagram at 11.
She was awarded 3 million dollars in compensatory damages, with Meta held 70% responsible and YouTube 30%, and jurors cleared the way for additional punitive damages to be decided in a separate phase.
Lawyers for the plaintiff argued that the companies “engineered addiction” to maximize engagement, comparing their tactics to the playbook once used by the tobacco industry.
The verdict is the first to emerge from a broader wave of more than 1,600 similar lawsuits brought by families and school districts across the United States, and is expected to shape future regulation and litigation over social media’s impact on children.
