Meta, YouTube found liable for social media addiction in landmark trial
by Tyler Katzenberger, Politico.com, March 26, 2026A California jury in a landmark verdict with massive implications for the tech industry Wednesday found Meta and YouTube negligent for designing addictive social media platforms that harmed a child.
After more than a week of deliberation, jurors decided in favor of the plaintiff — a now 20-year-old California woman identified as K.G.M. in Los Angeles Superior Court documents — concluding that potent design features of platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook fueled her nonstop use as a teenager, exacerbating depression and suicidal ideation.
The jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay K.G.M. $3 million in compensatory damages, with Meta assigned 70 percent of responsibility and YouTube the rest. Ten jurors voted in favor of the plaintiffs, while two voted in favor of the defense.
It’s the first time major social media companies have been found liable by a U.S. jury for creating addictive products. The verdict came after a weeks-long trial that featured blockbuster testimony from top corporate executives including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The verdict comes on the heels of another ruling Tuesday in New Mexico where a jury found Meta was liable for endangering children and misleading the public about the safety of its platforms. In that case, Meta must pay $375 million in civil penalties.
“Today’s verdict is a referendum — from a jury, to an entire industry — that accountability has arrived,” plaintiff lawyers representing K.G.M. said in a statement.
Jurors also found Meta and YouTube should pay punitive damages. The amounts that Meta and YouTube owe — and whether the companies will be ordered to redesign certain parts of their platforms — will be determined in the next phase of the trial.
In a statement following the verdict, a Meta spokesperson said: “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options.”
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José Castañeda, a spokesperson for YouTube parent company Google, said the platform plans to appeal the ruling. “This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site,” he said in a statement.
For decades, platforms have been shielded by federal liability protections enacted during the internet’s early days. But after Wednesday’s verdict, tech giants suddenly appear vulnerable in hundreds of similar lawsuits that could incur further damages or force product redesigns.
The Los Angeles trial is a bellwether for hundreds similar cases brought by more than 1,600 plaintiffs, ranging from California school districts that blame platforms for rampant student mental health issues to families who accuse social media platforms of harming their kids.
Social media companies Snap and TikTok, which settled in the K.G.M. lawsuit days before it went to trial, are named alongside Meta and YouTube as defendants in the remaining cases, some of which are expected to go to trial later this year.
At the federal level, more than 235 plaintiffs are suing Meta, Snap, TikTok and Google on similar grounds. Trials in the federal proceeding are slated to begin as soon as this June.
READ: Meta Ordered to Pay $375 Million in New Mexico Trial for Harming Children
“It should be a wake up call for everyone,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez told POLITICO in an interview referring to the back-to-back verdicts this week. “It’s time to change the way these companies do business.”
A Meta spokesperson said the company disagrees with the New Mexico verdict and will appeal the ruling.
