In a historic case involving social media addiction, a Los Angeles jury found Alphabet’s Google and Meta responsible for $3 million in damages on Wednesday.
The decision may have an impact on thousands of similar lawsuits that parents, attorneys general, and school districts have filed against the tech corporations.
A 20-year-old woman in the Los Angeles case said that the application’ eye-catching designs caused her to develop an addiction to them at a young age.
It was more difficult for the firms to avoid culpability because the plaintiffs in the Los Angeles case concentrated on platform design rather than content.
In the trial, Snap and TikTok were also defendants. Before it started, both reached a settlement with the plaintiff. The agreements’ terms were not made public.
Following the ruling, Meta Platforms’ and Alphabet’s shares increased by 1% and 2%, respectively, with little change in the news.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options”, a representative for Meta stated.
Google did not respond right away.
Growing criticism
Over the past ten years, there has been an increasing amount of criticism directed at large US technology companies over the safety of children and teenagers. State governments and courts are increasingly at the center of the discussion.
The US Congress has refused to enact comprehensive social media regulation legislation.
The nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, an organization that monitors state laws, reports that at least 20 states passed legislation last year regarding minors and social media use.
Bills that restrict cellphone use in classrooms and mandate age verification before opening a social media account are included in the legislation.
A trade group called NetChoice, supported by tech giants like Google and Meta, is suing to have age verification laws declared unconstitutional.
This summer, a federal court in Oakland, California, is scheduled to hear a different case involving social media addiction that was filed by a number of states and school districts against tech companies.
According to Matthew Bergman, one of the lawyers handling the plaintiffs’ cases, another state trial is scheduled to start in Los Angeles in July. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat will all be included.
In a separate case, the state’s attorney general accused Meta of deceiving users about the security of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and of facilitating child sexual abuse on those platforms. A jury in New Mexico decided Meta had broken state law on Tuesday.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS