A Los Angeles jury has handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media.
Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year old’s mental health.
The woman, known as Kaley, was awarded $6m (£4.5m) in damages, a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts.
Meta and Google said separately that they disagreed with the verdict and would both appeal. Meta said: “Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.”
Iona Silverman, Intellectual Property & Media Partner at Freeths LLP, said:
“This case is a watershed moment. The public, governments and now the US legal system have made clear that social media companies must bear responsibility for the products that they create. Historically the platforms were protected, in the EU and UK for example by the hosting defence which said that the platforms were mere hosts of user generated content. That will no longer wash. While I don’t expect to see similar class action in the UK, this most recent decision will put increased pressure on the government to ensure the online safety act is enforced, and to implement further measures to ensure the safety of young people online.”
Iona Silverman is a Partner in the London IP & Media team at Freeths LLP with experience in advertising & marketing law.
