Landmark Trial Targets Social Media Addiction Among Children

LOS ANGELES (Web Desk) – A landmark trial beginning this week could set a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed platforms to addict children.

Jury selection starts Tuesday in California state court in a “bellwether” case that may influence hundreds of similar lawsuits nationwide. The defendants—Alphabet, ByteDance, and Meta, owners of YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram—face allegations that their platforms caused depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalizations, and even suicide among young users.

The case centers on a 19-year-old woman, K.G.M., who claims severe mental harm from social media addiction. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are using strategies similar to those employed against the tobacco industry, arguing that these tech giants sold a “defective product” in the form of addictive design features.

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Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify. Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman called the trial a historic opportunity for families to hold some of the world’s largest companies accountable for harming children, emphasizing that the focus is on platform design, not user content.