A large group of parents, teens and school districts is taking on tech giants in open court, with allegations that they have intentionally designed their products to be addictive.
These trials begin in Los Angeles superior court on Tuesday, the plaintiffs claim that Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube’s platforms harm children. According to them, when young people are hooked, they fall prey to depression, eating disorders, self-harm and other mental health issues.
Approximately 1,600 plaintiffs are included in the proceedings, involving more than 350 families and 250 school districts.
“The fact that a social media company is going to have to stand trial before a jury … is unprecedented,” Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and an attorney representing plaintiffs, said in a press briefing.
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The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. It involves a 19-year-old who is identified in court documents by the initials KGM, who alleges that she developed mental health issues at a young age after becoming addicted to social media apps.
Her case will be the first of around 22 “bellwether” trials, which are used as test cases to gauge juries’ reactions and potential verdicts. The trials will cover thousands of lawsuits that have been coordinated together in what is known as a judicial council coordination proceeding (JCCP).
The plaintiffs are seeking financial damages and injunctive relief that would change the design of the platforms and establish industry-wide safety standards. If they win the case, there would likely be a significant change in how the platforms are designed. It could also create new avenues for lawsuits against these companies.
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Key witnesses are expected to include top executives from the social media companies, such as Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri and Zuckerberg, along with experts in online harm.
YouTube spokesperson José Castañeda called the allegations in the lawsuits “simply not true”. He said providing young people with a “safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work” and that “we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls”.
Snap had already reached a settlement in the lawsuit. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the settlement was announced last week in the California Superior Court in Los Angeles County. Snap told the BBC that the parties were “pleased to have been able to resolve this matter in an amicable manner”. Other defendants in the case include Meta, TikTok, and YouTube.