Forbes Topline

Meta And Google Found Liable In Social Media Addiction Trial

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Meta and Google, the parent company of YouTube, were found liable for harming a woman’s mental health due to addictive design features, a California jury found in a landmark decision on Wednesday, just one day after a jury in New Mexico ordered the Facebook parent company to pay $375 million for enabling child exploitation and misleading the users about safety features.

Key Facts

  • Meta and Google are liable to pay $3 million in damages to the plaintiff, only identified as a 20-year-old woman named K.G.M., who said she became addicted to the two companies’ apps due to addictive features.
  • Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, was ordered to pay out 70% of the damages, while YouTube was ordered to pay the remaining 30%, the Wall Street Journal reported.
  • The lawsuit also named TikTok and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, as defendants, but both companies settled out of court for undisclosed sums.
  • Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri both testified at the trial, where Zuckerberg insisted the company was “building this thing to be a good thing that has value in people’s lives,” Courthouse News reported in February.
  • “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options,” Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan told Forbes in a statement, while Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a separate statement the company disagrees with the verdict and plans to appeal, adding, “this case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”
  • The verdict did not appear to impact stock prices, Meta shares up slightly (0.46%) and Google parent Alphabet’s down slightly (0.3%).

    • Read the full story on Forbes: By Zachary Folk https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2026/03/25/meta-and-google-found-liable-in-social-media-addiction-trial/

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