Judge Denies Meta and Google Requests for New Trial

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl denied motions for a new trial filed by Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube, upholding a jury verdict that ordered the companies to pay $6 million in damages. The lawsuit centered on a woman who alleged she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube during her childhood due to attention-grabbing design features that harmed her mental health.

Judge Kuhl rejected the defendants' arguments that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shielded them from liability. She ruled that the law does not cover design choices and that evidence showed the plaintiff was harmed by Instagram's design regardless of the content on the platform. Attorney Mark Lanier argued that the evidence of the companies' fault was substantial.

Both Meta and Google announced plans to appeal the ruling. Meta contended that the legal theory used in the case improperly circumvents the First Amendment and Section 230. This decision follows a separate $375 million judgment against Meta in New Mexico for deceiving users about child safety and coincides with thousands of similar addiction-related lawsuits pending in California courts.