A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable in March 2026 for designing addictive platforms that harmed a young California woman, awarding her $6 million in what became the first jury verdict in the sprawling social media lawsuit against Meta and other platforms. The trial judge has since upheld the verdict, and both companies have said they will appeal.
The case, K.G.M. v. Meta Platforms and Alphabet (YouTube), was tried in Los Angeles Superior Court before Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl as part of California’s coordinated proceedings (JCCP 5255). The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman from Chico identified publicly as “Kaley” or by her initials, alleged she began using Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube as a child and developed depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal ideation as a result.1NPR. Meta YouTube Social Media Trial Verdict
What the Jury Decided
On March 25, 2026, the jury found both companies negligent and determined they had acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud.”2ABC7 News. Los Angeles Social Media Addiction Trial Jury Finds Instagram YouTube Liable Responsibility was assigned 70 percent to Meta and 30 percent to YouTube.1NPR. Meta YouTube Social Media Trial Verdict
The award broke down into $3 million in compensatory damages ($2.1 million from Meta, $900,000 from YouTube) and $3 million in punitive damages, split along the same ratio.
The plaintiff’s attorneys argued that specific design features functioned like a defective product: infinite scroll, autoplay video, push notifications, algorithmic recommendations, and beauty filters. They compared the tools to digital slot machines and cigarettes, arguing the companies engineered them to exploit developing brains.3New York Times. Social Media Trial Verdict Internal documents introduced at trial showed executives were aware of the addictive effects on children and continued deploying the features anyway.4Crowell & Moring. Landmark Verdicts Against Meta and YouTube Signal New Era of Social Media Platform Liability Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, and YouTube Vice President of Engineering Cristos Goodrow all testified.5Spencer Law. Social Media Addiction Trial
How the Case Got Past Section 230
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act usually shields internet platforms from liability for content posted by users, and it has stopped many prior suits against social media companies. The plaintiff’s team framed its claims around product design rather than content moderation, arguing the platforms themselves were defectively built. Courts in both the California coordinated proceedings and the parallel federal litigation had already ruled that Section 230 does not bar design-based product liability claims. This trial put that theory in front of a jury for the first time.6EPIC. Jury Finds Meta and Google Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Case
Meta and YouTube’s Challenge to the Verdict
Both companies filed post-trial motions asking Judge Kuhl to throw out the verdict. Both were denied. On June 10, 2026, the court ruled that the punitive damages were “supported by substantial evidence” and rejected arguments based on Section 230, the First Amendment, and causation, noting that many of those arguments had been “shot down throughout the litigation.”7Lanier Law Firm. Court Denies Motion to Overturn $6 Million Verdict in Social Media Addiction Case The judge formally upheld the verdict on June 15, 2026.8Beasley Allen. First Social Media Bellwether Trial Ends in $6 Million Verdict Meta and YouTube have said they will appeal.9BBC. Instagram and YouTube Found Liable in Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial in California
Why This Verdict Matters for Other Cases
KGM is a bellwether. Thousands of similar claims are pending, and how this one is resolved shapes what happens in the rest.
In federal court, more than 2,000 cases are consolidated as In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3047) before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California. Roughly 1,200 of those were filed by school districts.10Spencer Law. Social Media Addiction Lawsuits KGM Trial MDL 3047 The court picked 11 bellwether cases — six from school districts and five from individual plaintiffs.11Social Media Victims. Social Media Lawsuits
The first federal bellwether, brought by the Breathitt County Board of Education in Kentucky, settled in June 2026 for $27 million before trial. Meta paid $9 million, Snap and TikTok each paid $8 million, and YouTube paid just over $2 million. YouTube also agreed to provide teacher training programs. None of the companies admitted wrongdoing.12WKYT. Breathitt County Schools Receive $27 Million Settlement From Social Media Companies13Levin Law. Kentucky School Social Media
Meta lost a separate case one day before KGM. On March 24, 2026, a New Mexico state jury found the company liable under the state’s Unfair Practices Act for misleading consumers about child safety on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and ordered $375 million in civil penalties, calculated at $5,000 per violation.14CNBC. Jury Reaches Verdict in Meta Child Safety Trial in New Mexico Meta said it would appeal that verdict as well.
State attorneys general have opened a third front. A bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general sued Meta in October 2023, alleging Instagram and Facebook were designed to maximize engagement at young users’ expense.15DC Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Brian Schwalb Sues Meta
What Comes Next
No global settlement has been reached. A second federal MDL trial involving state attorney general claims is scheduled for August 6, 2026, with additional state-court bellwether trials set for the summer of 2026.8Beasley Allen. First Social Media Bellwether Trial Ends in $6 Million Verdict A federal jury trial involving individual plaintiffs is set for February 2027.16U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. In Re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation With the Breathitt County template on the school district side and two jury verdicts against Meta on the books, pressure to negotiate broader resolutions continues to build.