Both had filed post-trial motions which were rejected last month
YouTube and Meta have appealed the California jury verdict that has led to them being ordered to pay millions in damages in a watershed social media addiction case, reported The Associated Press.
The jury had concluded after weeks of trial that Google (which owns YouTube) and Meta’s platforms were designed to capture young users while disregarding the impact of these platforms on their wellbeing. The 20-year-old woman who filed the suit was granted US$3 million in damages, with a recommendation for another US$3 million in punitive damages after the jury ruled that the companies acted with malice, oppression, or fraud.
Meta’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal in Los Angeles County Superior Court on July 7, while YouTube’s lawyers filed their appeal notice on Monday July 13. The lawyers will present their arguments for the appeal in subsequent court filings, per AP News.
The woman’s lead attorney, Mark Lanier, said last week that he and the legal team expected the appeals court to uphold the trial court’s decision.
The woman’s suit, which also named TikTok and Snap as defendants, alleged that using social media as a teenager resulted in issues with body dysmorphia, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, addiction, and depression. The plaintiffs in the suit indicated that tools like infinite scroll were designed to drive addiction to social media platforms.
YouTube had argued during the trial that it was not a social media platform. A Meta spokeperson also said in a statement that teens’ mental health issues could not be traced back to one app.
Google and Meta also raised the legal protections offered to technology companies with regard to content posted by third parties, such as s. 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
However, the jury concluded after over 40 hours of deliberation that the companies had been negligent, which played a large role in harming the woman. After the jury delivered its verdict in March, Google and Meta both filed post-trial motions for a new trial; however, these motions were rejected by trial judge Carolyn B. Kuhl last month, according to AP News.
TikTok and Snap opted to settle with the plaintiff on undisclosed terms.
