The world's largest social media companies have been accused of creating 'addiction machines' as a landmark trial began in California examining the mental health effects of Instagram and YouTube.
In his opening argument before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and a jury, Mark Lanier argued that his client, plaintiff 'K.G.M.', suffered from mental health issues as a result of her social media addiction.
These companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children, and they did it on purpose, Lanier said.
Lawyers for Meta and YouTube told the jury that K.G.M.'s addiction stemmed from other issues in her life, not their negligence.
K.G.M. will be referred to by her initials, or as Kaley G.M., because the alleged harms took place when she was a minor.
Lanier also charged that Meta and YouTube failed to warn of the dangers to young users posed by the design of their platforms.
Lanier underscored his opening remarks by speaking with a display of children's blocks in front of him: the words 'Addicting,' 'Brains' and 'Children' appeared next to the letters A, B, and C.
This case is about two of the richest corporations in history who have engineered addiction in children's brains, Lanier said. I'm going to show you the addiction machine that they built, the internal documents that people normally don't get to see, and emails from [Meta CEO] Mark Zuckerberg and YouTube executives.
... [The text continues with detailed presentations and rebuttals from both sides, emphasizing the trial's potential implications for future social media regulations and its broader social consequences.]
