FOR years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people’s mental health and can lead to addiction, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and suicide. For the first time, juries in two US States took their side. In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children using their services. In New Mexico, a jury determined that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. Tech watchdog groups, families and advocates cheered the jury decisions. “The era of Big Tech invincibility is over,” said Sacha Haworth, Tech Oversight Project’s executive director. “After years of gaslighting from companies like Google and Meta, new evidence and testimony have pulled back the curtain and validated the harms young people and parents have been telling the world about for years.”

 

While it’s too soon to tell if this week’s outcomes will lead to fundamental changes in how social media platforms treat their young users, the dual verdicts signal a changing tide of public perception against tech companies that is likely to lead to more lawsuits and regulation. For years, they have argued that the harms their platforms cause to children are a mere by-product, unintentional and inevitable consequences of broader societal issues or bad actors taking advantage of safeguards. They pushed against the notion that psychological harms could be the result of social media use and downplayed research that showed otherwise. When asked about whether people tend to use a platform or product more if it’s addictive during his testimony in Los Angeles trial, Meta CEO Zuckerberg said “I’m not sure what to say to that. I don’t think that applies here.” The verdicts show the public’s growing willingness to hold the companies responsible for harms and demand meaningful changes in how they operate. What’s not apparent, at least not yet, is whether the companies will take heed. Both Meta and Google said they disagree with verdicts and are exploring legal options, including appeals.