Overview
- Jury selection began this week in Los Angeles Superior Court for the first trial drawn from thousands of consolidated youth-harm cases.
- TikTok reached an agreement in principle hours before jury selection and Snap settled on Jan. 20, with both deals confidential and undisclosed.
- The case now proceeds against Meta and YouTube, with opening statements expected next week and proceedings projected to run into March.
- Plaintiffs allege features like infinite scroll, algorithmic recommendations and constant notifications foster addiction and mental-health harms, while Meta and YouTube deny wrongdoing and cite safety tools and parental controls.
- Legal analysts say the outcome could shape thousands of related claims and expose companies to potentially billions in damages, and executives including Mark Zuckerberg are expected to testify.