The Meta Verdict is a Gift to Trial Lawyers and Activists

By James Erwin

In a landmark decision, a court in Los Angeles has ruled in favor of a plaintiff alleging that Meta and YouTube addicted her to social media. While observers have been treated to a plethora of reactions to this case, few have addressed the implications for third-party litigation from left-wing non-profits aimed at changing tech companies’ behavior.

Meta and Google were taken to court by a 20-year-old woman who alleged their social media platforms were designed to addict users. Her legal team successfully convinced a jury that this was not only true but that the platforms should compensate her for her childhood addiction and attendant mental health struggles. She was awarded $6 million, with a 70/30 split between Meta and Google.

There has been plenty of commentary in reaction to the case, everything from whether it is reasonable to blame all of the angst of growing up on a few apps to what role parents should have in policing screen time at an impressionable age. The more interesting question to us is how to calculate damages. This is where the L.A. jury’s monetary judgement against the tech giants will likely have the greatest long-term impact: not merely proving the addiction case, but setting a legal precedent that monetary damages can be discerned at all.

This sets a new precedent that could result in a deluge of lawsuits over social media addiction. Trial lawyers are rejoicing. The personal injury billboards may soon be joined by social media addiction ads. This verdict signals a windfall for vexatious litigation. Meanwhile, it will hurt American innovation because many of these cases will be meritless and will subject well-capitalized companies to tortious claims that divert resources from R&D and AI investment. Congress should take this opportunity to sort out liability while it still has the chance.

Activists that have long sought to control tech companies have an even more sinister opportunity. Class-action litigation in the mold of this case can be funded by third-party public interest law firms. With damages of $6 million, it is unlikely that similar litigation will turn a profit from judgements of this scale given the expense of class-action cases. Instead, activist groups will fund unprofitable lawsuits to cow these companies. What they cannot win in Congress they will try to achieve through settlements. The point will never be restitution, it will be legislation-by-jury. The scale of the settlements will be a pittance to the companies playing defense, but if enough suits are filed there will be a sort of death by a thousand cuts that leads them to capitulate. Meanwhile, only the trial lawyers will get rich.

And they will do this with some fairly flimsy complaints. The opportunity cost of time spent online that could otherwise have been used productively might be compelling to some juries when determining monetary damages, but it is difficult to calculate and runs into the problem of the creator economy. Content creation, brand partnerships, and small business marketing all happen on social media, so it is not accurate to say that time spent online cannot be profitable. Damages will more likely be confined to compensation for metal health effects, which are famously nebulous.

As usual, the question of parental guidance is getting lost in the din. Too much of anything can be harmful – sugar is a great example of something we know is addictive and bad for you in large quantities but fine in moderation. Social media is clearly fine in moderation as well, and can be financially beneficial as noted above. Candy companies have never been held liable for causing obesity. Parents have been expected to instruct their children in proper nutrition – they should take a leading role in containing screen time as well.

This verdict plunges us into a world of unknown future litigation but a few things are already clear: The trial bar will enrich themselves, activists will try to circumvent the legislative process, and plaintiffs will likely see very little restitution. Meanwhile, the simplest solution to social media addiction remains to log off and parent well.