Written by Judy Godoy and Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES — A California woman is scheduled to testify in court Wednesday about how using Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Google Inc’s YouTube as a child affected her mental health, as her landmark trial continues in Los Angeles.
The plaintiff, known in court as Kaley GM, began using Instagram at age nine and YouTube at age six, and says the platforms contributed to mental health problems, including depression and body dysmorphia. Its lawyers say the companies sought to profit by connecting young children to their services despite knowing that social media could harm their mental health.
The case is part of a broader global backlash against social media companies over alleged harm to children and teens. Australia has banned young users from using these platforms, and other countries are considering similar restrictions.
The beginning of the trial focused on what companies knew about how social media affects children, and their business strategies related to younger users. Now the focus will be on the women’s claims about how the services affected them. CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified that the company discussed products for children but never launched them.
To win the case, her lawyers will have to prove that the way the companies designed or managed the platforms was a material factor in causing or exacerbating her mental health problems.
Mita’s lawyer said in his opening statements that her health records show a history of verbal and physical abuse and a fraught relationship with her parents, who separated when she was three years old.
Her personal attorney pointed to a recent internal study by Meta, in which teens in difficult life circumstances often said they used Instagram habitually or unintentionally.
Features such as auto-playing videos and a feed that allows users to scroll endlessly are designed to keep users on the platforms longer, despite evidence of harm to the mental health of younger users, its lawyers claim. Meanwhile, the lawyer said “like” buttons satisfied teens’ need for validation, while beauty filters distorted their self-image.
YouTube’s lawyer said Cali failed to use platform features designed to protect users from bullying, including tools for deleting comments and limiting time spent watching videos, according to the court filing. The lawyer cited in court records showing that her average time watching short videos on YouTube was about 1 minute and 14 seconds per day, and her average time spent streaming videos on YouTube in the past five years was about 29 minutes.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
