Meta and YouTube Found Negligent and to Have Acted With Punitive Conduct in Social Media Harm Trial

Jury awards $3 million in compensatory damages to plaintiff

[Los Angeles, CA] – In a major blow to social media giants and a win for consumers, a California jury has sided with the plaintiff in the first bellwether trial within the Social Media Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings (JCCP). The jury found Meta and YouTube liable for the harm their platforms caused the plaintiff and ordered them to pay $3 million in compensatory damages to a 20-year-old woman for the psychological injuries she suffered from using Instagram and YouTube as a child. The jury also determined Meta and YouTube “acted with malice, oppression, or fraud,” a finding which initiates a separate phase of the trial to decide the amount of punitive damages owed by the defendants. The punitive damages phase is set to occur immediately following the compensatory damages verdict.

Morgan & Morgan, America’s largest injury firm, was part of the trial team that represented the plaintiff, who was a minor at the time of her injuries and brought the lawsuit against Meta and YouTube. In her lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed the companies added features like infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications and reward systems to Instagram and YouTube with the goal of addicting minors, and that she became addicted to the platforms and developed depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia as a result.

“The ways in which social media has warped the brains of children across the country is one of the landmark issues of the 21st century,” said Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan and attorney Emily Jeffcott. “Because of companies like Meta and YouTube, our attention spans and the reward systems in our brains have become monetized and exploited like never before. This approach of addicting people to social media platforms to make more profit – at the expense of our mental health – has been especially harmful to the minds of our children. We’re pleased the jury recognized the magnitude of this issue and held Meta and YouTube accountable for their actions.”

Throughout the six-week trial, the plaintiff presented extensive and detailed evidence showing employees at Meta and YouTube knew about how their platforms were addicting and harming children. This evidence included internal discussion at Instagram of appealing to “tweens” as young as nine years old and YouTube employees talking about the goal of the platform being “viewer addiction.” Attorneys for the plaintiff also introduced testimony from an ex-Vice President at Meta that the company doesn’t understand its own algorithms and put scientists and medical professionals on the stand to discuss the harm Instagram and YouTube caused to the plaintiff’s brain.

The next bellwether trial, R.K.C. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., Case No. 23STCV31485, involves a Florida-based plaintiff and will proceed to trial this summer. Morgan & Morgan’s Emily Jeffcott and Josh Autry will serve as trial counsel in that case. The firm represents more than 1,000 people who have faced alleged mental and physical harms linked to social media addiction.

“For years, the defendants have known the harmful effects their platforms had on developing minds,” said Morgan & Morgan attorney Josh Autry. “Despite this, they prioritized profits over safety. As we push forward with additional bellwether trials against these and other social media companies, we expect jurors will continue to protect the mental health of future generations.”

The jury found Meta responsible for 70 percent of the $3 million in damages and YouTube responsible for 30 percent.

The plaintiff in this trial was represented by trial counsel Mark Lanier, Sarah Lanier and Rachel Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm, Emily Jeffcott and Josh Autry of Morgan & Morgan, Rahul Ravipudi of Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Mariana McConnell of Kiesel Law LLP, , and Joseph VanZandt of Beasley Allen Law Firm. This case, No. 22STCV21355, is one of thousands consolidated under the Social Media Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings (JCCP5255) in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.