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Meta and Snap face Los Angeles jury over claims their apps addicted two teens; Zuckerberg due to testify
Jury selection begins in Los Angeles on Wednesday in a trial in which two young women say Meta's and Snap's apps were designed to be addictive and harmed their mental health. Snap is a defendant for the first time. Opening statements are set for 4 November; Zuckerberg and Spiegel may testify.
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Meta and Snap go before a jury in Los Angeles this week in a trial over claims that their apps were designed to be addictive and harmed the mental health of young users. Jury selection was expected to begin on Wednesday, 28 October, in a California state court. Opening statements are scheduled for 4 November if no further settlements are reached. It is one of thousands of lawsuits across local, state and federal courts in the United States on the effect of social media on young people.
The plaintiffs and their claims
A state judge consolidated two cases into one trial. One plaintiff, identified as SJ, is a teenager from Illinois who began to use Snapchat at the age of 13. Her lawyers say that compulsive use led to mental health problems, an eating disorder and self-harm. The other, identified as KDB, is now 18 and is from Mississippi. She started at 15 and, her lawyers say, developed compulsive use of both Meta's apps and Snapchat, which worsened her mental and physical health.
The claims centre on addictive design and deceptive practices. Lawyers for the two plaintiffs are expected to argue that they were exposed to addictive and problematic apps from the time that they started using them. A request to separate the cases into two trials had not been ruled on, according to one report.
Who is on trial
The defendants are Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, and Snap, which owns Snapchat. It is the first time that Snap has been a defendant in a trial of this kind. TikTok and YouTube settled with both plaintiffs before the trial. Meta settled with SJ but not with KDB.
Witnesses who are expected to testify from mid-November include Meta's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram's head Adam Mosseri and Snap's chief executive Evan Spiegel.
Meta says that it disagrees with the claims, and has said that it has built protections into its platforms over a decade. In July, it told a news agency that it would not back away from defending itself against baseless lawsuits. Snap says that the evidence will show it put its community first, and that the allegations misrepresent the experience of the plaintiffs. It argues that Snapchat is different from Instagram and Facebook because it is mainly a messaging platform.
The trial follows other cases this year.
| Case | Outcome |
|---|---|
| KGM trial, Los Angeles, earlier this year | A jury found Meta and YouTube collectively liable and ordered a combined penalty of 6 million dollars; Snap and TikTok settled before trial |
| Case set for August | Snap, TikTok and YouTube settled, and the plaintiff withdrew her remaining claims against Meta |
| August settlement | Meta agreed to pay more than 18 billion dollars to 52 state attorneys general and to make changes to Instagram and Facebook for teens, several days into a California trial |
Meta said that it respectfully disagreed with the verdict in the KGM case.
The central question is whether the design of the apps, such as endless feeds, notifications and rewards for returning, can make a company legally responsible for harm to young users, when most of what users see is posted by other people. The earlier verdict shows that juries are prepared to find against the companies, and the settlements show that the companies prefer to avoid trial in some cases.
Social media use among young people is high in India as well, where Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube have very large audiences, and debates about screen time and the safety of children online are active. A United States verdict does not bind Indian courts or regulators, but the evidence presented at trial, including internal company documents and testimony from the chief executives, can inform the public discussion everywhere.
The presiding judge, Carolyn Kuhl, has been asked to split the two cases into separate trials, according to one report, and had not ruled on the request. If she does, the schedule and the witness list could change.
The first things to watch are who is selected as a juror, whether the judge splits the cases, and whether either company settles before opening statements on 4 November. The testimony from Zuckerberg and Spiegel in mid-November is likely to draw the most attention.
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