A 20 year old woman suing Meta and Google told a Los Angeles jury that her childhood was consumed by Instagram and YouTube, which she claims were addictive and contributed to her mental health problems. The case, which is expected to run until mid March, could produce the first legal ruling on what responsibility social media companies hold for their youngest users.
Allegations And Platforms Involved
The woman, identified in court as KGM or Kaley to protect her privacy, said she began using YouTube at age six and Instagram at age nine. She told the court she encountered no barriers preventing her from accessing the platforms despite her age. While much of the trial has focused on Instagram and its parent company Meta, Google’s YouTube is also a defendant. TikTok and Snapchat were initially named in the lawsuit but settled shortly before the trial began. The terms of those settlements were not disclosed.
Meta has argued that Kaley’s use of Instagram did not amount to an addiction and that its platform was not responsible for her mental health issues.
Testimony On Daily Use And Mental Health
Kaley told the court that checking Instagram was the first thing she did when she woke up and that she remained on the app throughout the day until she went to sleep. She said this pattern affected her school life, home life, and mental health. She also testified that she watched YouTube videos for hours at a time and that the platform’s autoplay feature, which automatically starts a new video after one ends, kept her engaged.
She said that not receiving enough likes on her posts left her feeling insecure or ugly. Kaley has been diagnosed with body dysmorphia, a condition involving excessive concern about physical appearance. When asked by her lawyer, Mark Lanier, whether she had experienced those feelings before using social media, she said she had not. She testified that her first feelings of anxiety and depression began at ages nine and 10 and that she was later diagnosed with both disorders as a teenager.
Kaley told the jury that by age 10 she was engaging in self harm and cutting herself. She said she has been seeing a therapist since she was 13.
Meta’s Response And Family Context
Kaley’s testimony followed a court appearance by Meta co founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who spent about seven hours answering questions from lawyers before the jury. Meta’s legal team has argued that Kaley’s mental health struggles were rooted in family issues rather than her use of Instagram.
Paul Schmidt, a lead lawyer for Meta, referred on the first day of the trial to statements Kaley had made before filing her lawsuit about a difficult relationship with her mother that had led to thoughts of self harm. Kaley said in court that while her relationship with her mother had been difficult at times, most arguments stemmed from her use of her iPhone and time spent online. She said she and her mother are now close.
Broader Legal Implications
The outcome of the trial is expected to influence thousands of similar lawsuits filed across the United States by families and state governments alleging harm to children from social media use. The ruling could help define how courts view the responsibility of technology companies toward younger users.
Featured image credits: pix4free.org
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