US jury to hear landmark case accusing Big Tech of addicting children

Hundreds of American families and school districts are set to face some of the world’s biggest social media companies in court, in what experts describe as a historic and potentially precedent-setting trial.

The case, being heard in Los Angeles, brings together around 1,600 plaintiffs, including about 350 families and 250 school districts, accusing tech companies of causing serious harm to children through addictive platform design.

‘Unprecedented’ jury trial

Speaking to the media, the Social Media Victims Law Centre said the case marked an extraordinary moment for the tech industry.

“The fact that a social media company is going to have to stand trial before a jury is unprecedented,” the organisation said.

Digital law expert Emma Sadleir said the significance goes beyond legal circles.

“This is the first time that these platforms are going to have to defend themselves at trial in front of a jury over the harms that we know are being caused by their platforms,” she said.

Parallels with tobacco lawsuits

Sadleir compared the coordinated action to the tobacco litigation of the 1990s, where companies were accused of knowingly creating addictive products that caused harm.

“In the same way, these social media platforms are creating very addictive platforms targeting our children,” she said. “They are leading to horrible harms – eating disorders, depression, anxiety, self-harm and other mental health issues.”

She added that internal documents from companies including Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are expected to play a crucial role.

“Some of the unsealed documents show employees knew how addictive their platforms were and did nothing to stop it,” Sadleir said. “They realised that if they could make teenagers sadder, they would spend more time on the platform – and the more time they spent, the more money these companies made.”

Disputes over causation

The companies are expected to argue that social media is not solely responsible for the harm alleged, pointing instead to family circumstances, schooling and parenting.

Sadleir said that the strategy was already clear. “It’s been bad kid, bad parenting,” she said. “We weren’t the main factor.”

But she believes that approach may backfire with juries, especially as research increasingly points to a direct link between platform design and harm.

“There’s unbelievable work being done by child experts all over the world showing the direct causation between these platforms and what we’re seeing,” she said.

Settlements and sealed documents

One company, Snapchat, has already settled with one of the plaintiffs, a 19-year-old woman who claims she suffered severe mental health harm after becoming addicted to social media.

“We don’t know the terms of the settlement,” Sadleir said, “but these CEOs do not want to take the stand.”

She expects the case to lead to major settlements and significant changes in how platforms operate. “It’s enough already when it comes to prioritising profits over children,” she said.

For more information, listen to Sadleir using the audio player below: