Meta and Snap Face Jury in California

Two young individuals, arguing that social media platforms are designed to be addictive, have taken Meta and Snap to court in Los Angeles, California.

Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, are facing a jury in Los Angeles, California, in the United States, accused of deliberately designing their platforms to be addictive and damaging the mental health of youth. According to a report by the Reuters news agency, one of the two plaintiffs whose names are kept confidential in the case files is 16-year-old S.J. from Illinois, and the other is 18-year-old K.D.B. from Mississippi. Stating that they started watching YouTube at just 3-4 years old and stepped into other social networks around the age of 9, the youths claim that features such as endless feeds and autoplay turned them into compulsive users. According to the allegations, this digital addiction caused severe psychological wounds in the youths, such as depression, severe anxiety, and eating disorders.

Top executives from Silicon Valley are scheduled to testify in the trial, which is expected to last a few weeks. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri, and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel are expected to take the witness stand in person. The process actually began targeting four major platforms. The youths initially added TikTok and YouTube, owned by Google, alongside Meta and Snap. However, before reaching the trial stage, TikTok and YouTube chose to reach settlements with the parties; 16-year-old S.J. also closed her case file with Meta through an agreement. Thus, the hearings in Los Angeles are addressing the two young girls' accusations against Snap and K.D.B.'s allegations from Mississippi directed at Meta.