Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking the stand in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday as part of a landmark civil lawsuit accusing social media companies of building their platforms to get users addicted to them, causing mental health to be at risk.
The case, known as JCCP 5255, revolves around a 20-year-old woman known as K.G.M. and her mother Karen, who allege that K.G.M.’s social media use, which began when she was 10, led to "dangerous dependency on the [social media companies’ products], anxiety, depression, self-harm, and body dysmorphia."
This suit is a bellwether for thousands of other lawsuits filed by or on behalf of users, as well as school districts and states across the country that have made similar accusations against social media platforms. Google’s YouTube was also named in the suit. If both Meta and YouTube lose, the media companies could face massive class-action lawsuits.
