In this photo illustration, a teenager uses her mobile phone to access social media on Jan. 31, 2024, in New York City. A major trial starting Tuesday will determine whether social media companies intentionally designed their products to be addictive for children.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Social media apps have long been accused of being harmful to children. Now those claims will come before a jury for the first time in a trial kicking off Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom.
A key question will be whether tech companies deliberately built their platforms to hook young users, contributing to a youth mental health crisis. The jury’s decision could have big consequences for the tech industry and how children use social media.
The case in California state court is the first of a wave of lawsuits headed for trial this year that have been brought against social media companies by more than 1,000 individual plaintiffs, hundreds of school districts and dozens of state attorneys general. It’s drawing comparisons to the legal campaign against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, which accused cigarette makers of covering up what they knew about the harms of their products.
