A Los Angeles jury delivered a major ruling on March 25, 2026, in the first trial of its kind. The panel found Meta and Google negligent for the way they designed Instagram and YouTube.
The companies must pay a total of six million dollars to a 20-year-old woman from Chico, California, who says the platforms hooked her as a child and made her mental health struggles worse.
The decision has parents, educators, and tech watchers talking about what comes next for apps used by millions of kids every day.
Kaley’s Early Years on the Apps
Kaley G.M., known in court as Kaley, started using YouTube at age six. She picked up Instagram at age nine. She told the jury she stayed on social media all day long from the moment she woke up until she went to sleep.
That constant scrolling replaced time with family and friends. It affected her schoolwork sleep and relationships at home.
Kaley described feeling anxious depressed and insecure about her looks. A licensed therapist who worked with her when she was 13 diagnosed social phobia and body dysmorphic disorder.
The therapist testified that Kaley’s social media habits played a contributing role in those issues. Kaley said the apps made it hard to stop even when she wanted to.
Features like endless feeds and autoplay kept pulling her back in. She explained that she stopped engaging with her family because the platforms took up so much of her time.
Her lawyers argued those design choices turned the apps into something far more powerful than simple entertainment for a young user.
What Unfolded in the Los Angeles Courtroom
The trial lasted about a month in Los Angeles Superior Court. Jurors heard from Kaley herself along with experts and company leaders. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri both testified. YouTube’s CEO did not take the stand.
Lawyers for Kaley pointed to specific parts of the apps. They highlighted infinite scroll algorithmic recommendations push notifications and autoplay.
Those elements they said were built to keep users engaged longer especially kids. The focus stayed on the platforms design not on any specific videos or posts. That distinction mattered because federal law shields companies from responsibility for user generated content.
Meta and Google pushed back during the trial. They said Kaley faced mental health challenges for other reasons including a difficult home life. They pointed out safety tools already available on the apps and said therapists never blamed social media alone.
YouTube lawyers added that the platform works more like a video streaming service than traditional social media. Still, the jury had to decide if the companies negligence played a substantial role in the harm Kaley described. After more than 40 hours of deliberation spread over nine days the 12 jurors reached their verdict.
The Jury’s Verdict and the Dollar Amount
The jury agreed with Kaley on the key points. They found both Meta and Google negligent in how they designed and ran their platforms.
That negligence counted as a substantial factor in her mental health issues. The panel awarded three million dollars in compensatory damages.
Meta which owns Instagram took 70 percent of the responsibility or 2.1 million dollars. Google which owns YouTube took the remaining 30 percent or 900 000 dollars.
Later the same day, jurors added three million dollars in punitive damages using the same split. That brought the total to six million dollars.
Ten of the 12 jurors sided with Kaley on every question they answered. The case stood out as a bellwether trial. It is the first to reach a verdict among thousands of similar lawsuits filed by families school districts and others across the country.
Reactions from Celebrities Attorneys and the Tech Giants
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released a joint statement calling the verdict a reckoning. They said families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard for the children they reach.
The couple added that they stand with every parent and young person who refused to be silenced. They noted that the truth has been heard and a precedent has been set.
Meta and Google said they plan to appeal. Meta released a statement that it respectfully disagrees with the verdict. The company called teen mental health profoundly complex and not something that can be linked to a single app.
Google described YouTube as a responsibly built streaming platform rather than a social media site. Both companies stressed the safety features they offer and said they remain confident in their approach to protecting younger users.
This six million dollar award may feel small compared to the billions the platforms earn. Yet the ruling puts real pressure on how social media companies build products for kids.
With so many other lawsuits waiting in the wings the conversation about app design and youth mental health just got a lot louder.
What do you think?