META Platforms, ByteDance, Alphabet and Snap must face trial over claims that they designed social media platforms to addict youths, a judge ruled, clearing the way for the first of thousands of cases to be presented to juries.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl late on Wednesday ruled against the companies on their last chance to avoid trial. Kuhl trimmed a negligence allegation from one case, but allowed other claims to proceed after lawyers have spent years pouring through evidence and dueling over legal theories.
The flood of lawsuits that started about three years ago targets Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, ByteDance’s TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube and Snap’s Snapchat.
A trio of trials starting in January will mark the first time that platform users testify in court about their addiction and suffering. If the companies ultimately lose, they could cumulatively face billions of dollars in damages and be forced to change how children use the platforms.
Thousands of cases have been filed by individuals, school districts and state attorneys general. One group of suits is being supervised by Kuhl. Another is pending in federal court in Oakland, California.
Lawyers for the social media companies argued during a hearing before Kuhl in October that plaintiffs had failed to present enough evidence showing that the designs of each platform – including algorithms that curate content, endless scrolling and personalised notifications – directly caused a litany of harms alleged in the suits.
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Young users claim excessive screen time has led them to suffer depression, anxiety, insomnia and eating disorders, while others have engaged in self-harm and even died by suicide.
“These lawsuits fundamentally misunderstand how YouTube works and the allegations are simply not true,” José Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, said in a statement on Thursday. “YouTube is a streaming service where people come to watch everything from live sports, to podcasts to their favorite creators, primarily on TV screens, not a social network where people go to catch up with friends.”
Castaneda also said his company has developed safeguards to give families more control over platform use.
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Lawyers for Snap at law firm Kirkland & Ellis said they look forward to explaining at trial why the allegations against the company are wrong.
“Snapchat was designed differently from traditional social media; it opens to the camera, allowing Snapchatters to connect with family and friends in an environment that prioritizes their safety and privacy,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Representatives of Meta and TikTok didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
“These rulings affirm that tech companies must face accountability for the design choices they make – choices that can profoundly affect the mental health of young users,” the group of lawyers representing the youths and families who are suing said in a statement.
“We are grateful that the court recognised the importance of letting a jury decide whether these platforms caused harm to these plaintiffs.”
A jury is scheduled to be chosen in January for the first so-called bellwether trial, an opportunity for each side to test the strengths of its arguments and gage how other cases featuring similar claims might play out. The outcomes of these early trials sometimes spur settlement talks.
The first trial will feature a 19-year-old California woman who says the sites’ designs led to her addiction and caused anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Jan 27. Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel are expected to testify.
The early trials will test the limits of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal liability shield law that has protected some social media platforms from facing past user-harm lawsuits. BLOOMBERG
