News Brief
Monday, February 9, 2026 — 10:19 am
A landmark trial against Google’s YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Instagram, begins this week, claiming the companies intentionally addict and harm kids, the Associated Press reported.
“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the lawsuit reads.
The case marks the first time such companies have had to defend themselves against a jury. TikTok and Snap were previously named in the suit but have since reached a settlement, according to the Associated Press. At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out, according to the Associated Press.
“This was only the first case — there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that start today, and sadly, new families every day who are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the nonprofit Tech Oversight Project.
Opening statements in the Los Angeles County Superior Court begin this week, and the trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify. The companies have so far disputed the claims, pointing to a range of safeguards.
“Recently, a number of lawsuits have attempted to place the blame for teen mental health struggles squarely on social media companies,” Meta said in a recent blog post, according to the Associated Press. “But this oversimplifies a serious issue. Clinicians and researchers find that mental health is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue, and trends regarding teens’ well-being aren’t clear-cut or universal. Narrowing the challenges faced by teens to a single factor ignores the scientific research and the many stressors impacting young people today, like academic pressure, school safety, socio-economic challenges and substance abuse.”
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