A groundbreaking court ruling has held Meta and YouTube accountable for causing harm to minors, compelling the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to settle with a $3 million payout.

In California, a jury determined that these tech giants were “negligent in the design or functioning of their platforms.”

The case was brought forward by a 20-year-old woman who claimed that her childhood engagement with social media led to an addiction, worsening her mental health challenges.

She recounted spending endless hours on these platforms, with her legal team arguing that features like “infinite” scrolling were intentionally designed to captivate and retain young users.

Meta countered these claims by maintaining that the woman’s mental health struggles existed independently of her social media use, often citing issues within her family environment.

Following the closing arguments, Meta released a statement asserting that “none of her therapists attributed her mental health problems to social media,” distancing the company from direct blame.

YouTube argued it was not a form of social media, but rather a video platform akin to television, and pointed to her declining use of the platform as she got older.

It was determined that Meta and YouTube knew that the design of their platforms was dangerous or was likely to be dangerous when used by a minor. The jurors also said the platforms failed to adequately warn of the danger, which further contributed to the plaintiff’s harm.

Meta and Google-owned YouTube were the two remaining defendants in the case after TikTok and Snap each settled before the trial began.

– Reported with Associated Press

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