Meta and Google's YouTube face claims platforms deliberately addict, harm kids.

Young people use their phones to view social media in Sydney in 2024. Rick Rycroft - The Associated Press.

By KAITLYN HUAMANIAND BARBARA ORTUTAY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The world's biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening statements for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, began on Monday.

Instagram's parent company Meta and Google's YouTube will face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums.

"This was only the first case - there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that start today, and sadly, new families every day who are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products," said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the nonprofit Tech Oversight Project.

A separate trial in New Mexico, meanwhile, also started Monday with opening arguments.

At the core of the Los Angeles 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.

Jurors were given a lengthy list of instructions from Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl before they heard opening statements.

They are not being asked to stop using Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or any other forms of social media throughout the course of the trial, but Kuhl emphasized that they should not make any changes to the way they interact with the platforms, including changing their settings or creating new accounts.

Kuhl said that jurors should decide the liability of Meta and YouTube independently when they deliberate.

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' FirstAmendment shield and Section 230, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.

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.

The tech companies dispute the claims that their products deliberately harm children, citing a bevy of safeguards they have added over the years and arguing that they are not liable for content posted on their sites by third parties.