Landmark social media trials begin across the US this week. Here’s what to know

The world's largest social media firms are bracing for landmark trials this year, seeking to hold them accountable for harm to child users. Opening arguments for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, begin this week.

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, and Google’s YouTube are set to face claims their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. This follows TikTok and Snap, previously named in the lawsuit, settling for undisclosed sums.

The social media addiction trials beginning today, which involve hundreds of parents and school districts, are “only the first case,” with new families daily joining legal action against Big Tech for its “deliberately harmful products,” stated Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project.

At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

It’s the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the outcome could have profound effects on their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms.

KGM claims that her use of social media from an early age addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Importantly, the lawsuit claims that this was done through deliberate design choices made by companies that sought to make their platforms more addictive to children to boost profits. This argument, if successful, could sidestep the companies' First Amendment shield and Section 230, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.

“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 says.

Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Experts have drawn similarities to the Big Tobacco trials that led to a 1998 settlement requiring cigarette companies to pay billions in health care costs and restrict marketing targeting minors.