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Lawyers set to argue that Instagram and YouTube intentionally addicted and harmed teen in landmark social media trial (lite.cnn.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Lawyers for a now-20-year-old woman are arguing that addictive features harmed her mental health in opening statements in a landmark trial against Meta and YouTube, the first of hundreds of similar cases to go to trial.

The plaintiff — identified by her first name, Kaley, or her initials, KGM — and her mother accused the tech companies of intentionally creating addictive platforms that caused her to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. Lawyers for Meta and YouTube have indicated they will argue that a difficult family life, not social media, was responsible for her mental health challenges.

Speaking on Monday in front of a jury in state court in Los Angeles, Kaley’s lawyer Mark Lanier called social media apps like YouTube and Instagram “digital casinos,” saying the app’s “endless scroll feature” creates dopamine hits that can lead to addiction.

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[-] x00z@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I guess it has to start with actual broken people before we can actually stop them.

Everybody is getting hurt, kids, teens, adults, seniors. All of us. We're constantly psychologically manipulated.

[-] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

We’re constantly psychologically manipulated.

Yes, so about that - these things are actual power applied holding us on the necessary (for their owners) trajectory. There are already plenty of actual broken people. Nobody will stop them without a power solution. That is, a cure. A counter-manipulation technology, that manages to stay under the radar for its carriers to become strong enough before actually engaging in countering this.

I don't see that future counterweight, perhaps that's because, as said previously, it stays under the radar.

this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
448 points (98.5% liked)

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