The court in the USA ruled against Meta and Google: Platforms created addiction among young people!

The jury awarded her three million dollars in damages.

– This ruling could reshape the ‘legal landscape’ for the world’s most powerful companies, the outcome could affect thousands of similar cases brought against technology companies by parents, state attorneys and school districts across the United States, writes Reuters.

Kaley’s lawyers argued that the compulsive use of the apps from an early age caused severe psychological damage, including depression, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts.

The keyč the success of the plaintiff was in the strategy that focused on the design of the platform, and not on the content that the users published. By doing so, they managed to circumvent Article 230 of the Criminal Code, a powerful law from 1996 that until now protected technology companies from liability for third-party content. Prosecutors argued that elements such as infinite scrolling, notification systems and algorithmic recommendations were deliberately created to keep users, especially children and teenagers, “hooked”.

During the trial, which attracted enormous media attention, the executive director of Meta was also on the witness stand. Mark Zuckerberg. His testimony was marked by attempts to minimize responsibility and avoiding direct answers.

Prosecutor’s lawyer, Mark Lanierconfronted him with internal company documents which, he claims, showed that Meta was aware of the presence of millions of underage users on its platforms and that one of the goals was to increase the time teenagers spend on the apps.

The defense, on the other hand, claimed that the prosecutor’s problems were the result of her family life and the consequences of the pandemic, not social networks. Snap and TikTok were originally part of the lawsuit, but both companies settled with the plaintiff before the start of the trial under undisclosed conditions.