Meta, Google face jury in landmark U.S. addiction trial
BNN Bloomberg
Meta and Google-owned YouTube were vilified Monday for “engineering addiction” as a landmark social media trial began in earnest in a California court.
The blockbuster trial in front of a Los Angeles jury could establish a legal precedent on whether the social media juggernauts deliberately designed their platforms to lead to addiction in children.
The proceedings are expected to see Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on the stand next week and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri in the courtroom as early as Wednesday. Besides Instagram, Meta’s platforms include Facebook and WhatsApp.
“This case is about two of the richest corporations in history who have engineered addiction in children’s brains,” plaintiff’s attorney Mark Lanier told the jury in his opening statement.
“This case is as easy as A-B-C,” Lanier said as he stacked children’s toy blocks bearing the letters.
He contended the A was for addicting, the B for brains and the C for children.
