<figure id="attachment_3278976" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3278976" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3278976" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/1a24aad9-social-media.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3278976" class="wp-caption-text">A California court formally opened landmark proceedings examining social media’s impact on minors. (AFP pic)</figcaption></figure>
LOS ANGELES: Meta and Google-owned YouTube &#8220;engineered addiction&#8221; in children, a lawyer for the plaintiff said on Monday as a landmark trial on the effects of social media on minors began in earnest in a California court.
&#8220;This case is about two of the richest corporations in history who have engineered addiction in children&#8217;s brains,&#8221; the attorney, Mark Lanier, told the jury in his opening statement.
&#8220;I&#8217;m going to show you evidence that these companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children, and they did it on purpose,&#8221; he added.
The Los Angeles trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified as Kayley G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.
&#8220;I&#8217;m going to talk about how Google and Meta deliberately designed their products, YouTube and Instagram, to hook users and to keep them coming back &#8211; not by accident, by design &#8211; because addiction is profitable,&#8221; the lawyer said.
Lanier told the jurors that he would use evidence from the companies &#8220;in their own words&#8221; as well as brain science to demonstrate why &#8220;&#8216;just put it down&#8217; is never an option.&#8221;
The lawyer described Instagram as an &#8220;endless feed&#8221; of people&#8217;s &#8220;filtered lives&#8221; where users &#8220;spend time waiting for social validation.&#8221;
YouTube &#8220;plays the next video before you can decide to stop,&#8221; using an algorithm &#8220;that learns what keeps you watching and feeds you more of it, whether you search for it or not.&#8221;

MatchPoint Times

US trial lawyer says Meta, YouTube ‘engineered addiction’ in children

Case centres on 20-year-old woman who allegedly suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a child.

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