Meta is a big loser

 

Meta is a big ol’ loser (in court)

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In what could be the beginning of social media’s Big Tobacco moment, Instagram’s owner just failed to beat the “you’re-harming-your-users” allegations, twice: Yesterday, Meta and Google’s YouTube lost a landmark social media addiction trial in California, one day after Meta lost a separate child safety case in New Mexico. In California, Meta and YouTube were accused of designing their apps to be addictive through features like infinite scroll: The jury found them negligent for running platforms that harmed adolescents and failing to warn the public about this danger. Meta and YouTube are ordered to pay $4.2 million and $1.8 million, respectively, to the plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child, which intensified her depression and other mental health struggles. Meta said it “respectfully” disagreed with the decision and would appeal, a move YouTube also plans to make. This was a bellwether case, meaning it tested the waters for thousands of similar lawsuits in the pipeline. Social media giants may now feel less confident about their chances in court, especially because Section 230—a legal rule that says platforms aren’t responsible for harmful content users post on their sites—didn’t protect them from liability this time. Plaintiffs (and prosecutors) are loopholing the loophole by focusing on platform design rather than content. Meanwhile, in New Mexico… On Tuesday, a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect its young users from sexually explicit content, trafficking, and other online dangers. The case followed a Chris-Hansen-like operation in which state investigators set up decoy accounts of minors, which they said were overwhelmed with solicitations from predators. Meta plans to appeal that decision, too. More state and federal trials are coming this year, including one from school districts and parents nationwide who accuse Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Snap of harming youth mental health.