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LOS ANGELES (CN) — An attorney for Google on Tuesday countered a plaintiff’s claim that YouTube was one of a handful of social media apps that she had become addicted to, worsening her depression and anxiety.
“Kaley GM is not addicted to YouTube,” Google attorney Luis Li told the jury during his opening statement, referring to the now 20-year-old plaintiff, who has withheld her full name to preserve her anonymity. “It’s not social media addiction when it’s not social media and it’s not an addiction.”
Li’s remarks came on the second day of the landmark trial pitting Kaley against tech giants Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google, which owns YouTube.
Kaley is the first of 1,600 plaintiffs who are suing Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok as part of a consolidated action over the effects of social media on children.
The verdict in Kaley’s trial could be used to help determine a global settlement. But in the weeks leading up to the bellwether trial, Snapchat and TikTok reached confidential settlements with the plaintiff, removing them from the highly anticipated and much-publicized trial.
On Monday, plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier promised to present “evidence that these companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children. And they did it on purpose.”
Meta’s attorney, Paul Schmidt, focused on Kaley GM herself, focusing on what he portrayed as lifelong mental health struggles — her difficult upbringing, including a mother who was physically and emotionally abusive, was the primary cause of those struggled, he argued, while Instagram, far from being the cause of her torment, was actually a “coping mechanism” and a “positive outlet.”
Google’s position, meanwhile, might have been best summarized when Li asked the jury, “So why are we here?”
A 2024 report by the U.S. surgeon general found that social media poses a “profound risk of harm” to adolescent mental health, and called for warning labels to be placed on social media apps.
Many parents and advocates are hoping that Kaley’s trial, the first of its kind in the world, will be a turning point leading to greater regulation and, perhaps, a large payout to thousands of families.
But Meta and Google aren’t on trial for fomenting a public health crisis. They’re on trial for harming Kaley GM. According to the plaintiffs, Kaley started using YouTube when she was 6. This was her first experience with social media, paving the way for later forays into Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
But Li argued that Kaley was never addicted to YouTube. And YouTube, he said, isn’t a social media app, not in the same way Instagram is, but rather a streaming channel, like Netflix or Disney+. And he defended YouTube design decisions, pointing to an internal email from 2017, claiming that the company “thoughtfully decided to forego viral videos. Instead we want to focus on channels.”
In other words, Li argued, YouTube tries to build viewership by promoting content creators, rather than bite-size videos like TikTok.
Li also argued that there was little evidence that Kaley ever had a problem compulsively watching YouTube videos. In 10,000 pages of medical records obtained through discovery, Li told the jury, “You’re not going to see a single mention of Ms. KGM being addicted to YouTube … You’re not gonna see a single suggestion in these 10,000 pages that she should stop watching YouTube.”
In fact, he added, “You’re only going to see one single reference to YouTube.” That reference: Kaley told a therapist that she sometimes used a YouTube video to help her fall asleep.
From 2020 to 2024, Li said, Kaley watched, on average, only about 29 minutes of YouTube per day.
After Li’s opening statement, the plaintiffs called their first witness: Dr. Anna Lembke, a renowned expert in addiction medicine at Stanford University.
“We get high, and we get dopamine, by making human connections,” Lembke told the jury. “What happens with social media is that it essentially ‘druggifies’ human connection. I can sit on my couch and swipe right, swipe left, and be exposed to a universe of beautiful faces.”
Lembke drew a number of parallels between social media usage and drugs. Both, she said, could be used as a coping, or “self-soothing” mechanism, and used as a temporary refuge from some sort of trauma.
“Most young people with mental health challenges are initially using social media to escape,” Lembke said. But that escape, she said, could soon become a new trap, as vulnerable children turn to social media more frequently and for longer periods of time, using the apps compulsively. “Then they have a new problem, a bigger problem. And the addiction itself can become a source of the trauma.”
When asked by Lanier if YouTube was addictive, she gave an unequivocal “yes.” When asked if watching YouTube wasn’t the same as watching old-school television, she said, “Your interacting with the TV doesn’t change the programing. That is the fundamental difference.”
She added: “It’s the interactive nature of the platform that makes it more potent and hence more addictive.”
On Wednesday, the plaintiffs will call Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, to the stand as an adverse witness. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify in person later this month.
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