Judge Rejects Meta, YouTube Bid for New Trial in Youth Harm Case

A California judge has rejected attempts by Meta and YouTube to overturn a jury verdict that found the companies responsible for designing social media platforms that harmed a young user.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl denied motions for a new trial on Tuesday, according to court documents.

The ruling means a March jury verdict awarding $6 million in damages will remain in place while both companies pursue appeals.

The case was brought by a 20-year-old California woman identified in court records as K.G.M., also known as Kaley.

She told jurors she began using YouTube at the age of six and Instagram at nine, and later developed anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts.

Her lawyers argued that features built into the platforms, including algorithmic recommendations, beauty filters, endless scrolling and push notifications, encouraged compulsive use and contributed to her mental health issues.

After hearing the evidence, the jury found both companies negligent and concluded they acted with malice, oppression and fraud.

Jurors awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and a further $3 million in punitive damages, bringing the total award to $6 million.

Meta was assigned 70% of the liability, amounting to $4.2 million, while YouTube was held responsible for the remaining 30%, or $1.8 million.

The trial attracted attention because it was the first to reach a verdict among more than 1,600 related lawsuits filed across the United States by young people, families and school districts.

The litigation accuses social media companies of designing products that encourage addiction among children and teenagers while contributing to mental health problems.

Several senior technology executives testified during the proceedings. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg spent about eight hours on the witness stand and was questioned about internal company documents showing that Instagram had four million users under the age of 13 in 2015.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri also testified and acknowledged that spending 16 hours a day on the platform could be “problematic.”

Meta said it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and plans to appeal. The company argued that teenage mental health is influenced by many factors and cannot be linked to a single app.

Google, which owns YouTube, also intends to challenge the ruling. The company argued that the case “misunderstands YouTube” because it views the service as a streaming platform rather than a social media network.

As it stands, lawmakers and child safety advocates are currently pushing for stronger protections for young users online, including uncompromising age-verification requirements, expanded parental management and changes to platform design.

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