Tech Liability
Jury Verdict: Meta and YouTube Liable for Minor's Addiction
In a landmark decision, a Los Angeles jury has awarded $6 million to a California teenager, K.G.M., finding that Meta and YouTube were liable for failing to warn of the addictive dangers of their platforms. The case revealed that the girl had begun using the apps at age 10 and eventually suffered from severe mental health issues, including sextortion and self-harm, due to the platforms' predatory recommendation algorithms. While the jury did not find the companies negligent in their technical design, they ruled that the tech giants acted with "malice, oppression, or fraud" by concealing known risks from parents and children.