YouTube rejects addiction allegations in landmark social media trial

The legal team for YouTube claimed Tuesday that Google was not designed to generate addiction and that it cannot even be considered, in a technical sense, a social network, as part of the second day of a landmark trial against big tech companies.

YouTube and Meta - a matrix of Instagram and Facebook - face a high-profile trial in Los Angeles, where they are accused of deliberately designing their platforms to be addictive to minors, a process that could set a significant legal precedent.

The civil suit in a state court in California examines allegations that a 20-year-old girl, identified as Kaley G.M., suffered substantial mental harm after developing a strong dependence on social media sites during her childhood. The young woman began watching YouTube at age six and opened an Instagram account at 11, before switching to Snapchat and TikTok two or three years later.

Initial arguments

"It's not social media addiction when it's not social media and it's not addiction," attorney Luis Li told the 12-member jury on the second day of arguments.

Li's opening arguments followed interventions on Monday by lawyers for the plaintiff and Meta, also a defendant in the trial. The counsel emphasized to the six-man and six-woman jury that he "simply did not recognize" the YouTube description presented by the plaintiff's representatives.

He further asserted that the plaintiff "is not addicted to YouTube; just listen to what she said herself, what her doctor stated and what her father pointed out," referring to evidence to be presented during the trial.

Li argued that what YouTube offers "is the ability to watch content virtually for free on your computer, phone or iPad." The lawyer added that "more people watch YouTube on TV than on their phones or devices. More people watch YouTube than cable television."

Likewise, the lawyer added that users' loyalty is due to the quality of the content, and mentioned internal company emails that, he said, reflect a stance against prioritizing virality and in favor of promoting educational and socially beneficial material.

Hundreds of lawsuits against tech companies

The high-impact case is seen as a key process whose outcome could influence a series of similar lawsuits across the country.

Social media companies face hundreds of lawsuits that sue them for inducing young people to become hooked on content and develop problems such as depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalizations and even suicidal behavior.

The plaintiff's lawyers are employing, according to AFP, tactics similar to those used in the 1990s and 2000s against the tobacco industry, which faced a comparable wave of lawsuits claiming the companies knowingly marketed a harmful product.