Elizabeth Frantz\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe social media case is being heard in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles County, with Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, and YouTube, which is owned by Google, moving forward as defendants.<\/p>\n
Social platforms Snapchat and TikTok were previously named in the lawsuit but reached settlements with the plaintiffs last month.<\/p>\n
Opening statements began earlier this week, with lawyers for both Meta and YouTube addressing the court on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.<\/p>\n
This case centers around a 20-year-old plaintiff who goes by the initials KGM, whose lawyers claim she became hooked on social media apps starting at age 6. She says features like autoscrolling got her addicted to the platforms, ultimately leading to anxiety, depression and body image issues.<\/p>\n
“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 claims, pointing to features on social media apps like auto-scrolling.<\/p>\n
The social media companies deny the allegations. They have argued that other factors contribute to the mental health of young social media users and that they have put in place guardrails to protect them, including specific parental controls for accounts belonging to children and teens.<\/p>\n
In a previous statement to ABC News, a Meta spokesperson said, “We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”<\/p>\n
Meta added that the company has made “meaningful changes” to its services, such as introducing accounts specifically for teenage users.<\/p>\n
\u00a0YouTube also said the allegations are “not true.”<\/p>\n
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,” spokesperson Jos\u00e9 Casta\u00f1eda said in a statement to ABC News previously. “In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls.”<\/p>\n
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the witness stand during the trial, with testimony currently set for Feb. 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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