YouTube appeals its social media addiction verdict

YouTube has appealed the landmark social media addiction verdict, joining Meta. Its argument: YouTube is not a social media platform.

YouTube has a curious line of defence against the finding that it helped hook a child on its app. It says it is not a social media platform at all.

The Google-owned video service has appealed the landmark verdict in a Los Angeles social media addiction case, the Associated Press reported. Its lawyers filed a notice of appeal on Monday, less than a week after Meta, the other defendant, filed its own.

The case centred on a 20-year-old woman, named in court only as Kaley. She said she grew addicted to social media as a child, and that it damaged her mental health. In March, a jury agreed that negligence by both YouTube and Meta was a substantial factor in that harm.

It awarded her $3m in damages and recommended a further $3m in punitive damages. The trial judge, Carolyn Kuhl, later rejected both companies’ bids for a new trial.

‘Not a social media platform’

YouTube’s central argument over the five-week trial was simple. It offers video sharing and streaming, its lawyers said, so it is not social media like Instagram or TikTok.

Both companies also pointed to Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability for what users post. The plaintiff’s lawyers sidestepped that. They focused on design features, like autoplay, that they said keep users scrolling longer and less deliberately.

Google called the appeals routine. They are “standard motions for this case to move forward,” spokesperson José Castañeda said. Kaley’s lead attorney, Mark Lanier, said he expects the appellate court to affirm the verdict.

Thousands more waiting

The stakes reach far beyond one case. Kaley’s was the first of its kind, and the result could shape thousands of similar claims that social media firms deliberately harm users. TikTok and Snap settled out before this trial began.

The bill could be large. Lawyers have compared the wave to the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s. For Meta, the child-safety cases may cost more than its vast AI budget. YouTube, for now, would rather argue it was never in this category to begin with.