A court made an important decision in the city Los Angeles. The companies Meta and Google lost a trial. Meta owns the app Instagram. Google owns the video site YouTube.
A 20 year old woman sued the companies. The woman says: The apps cause addiction on purpose. She used the apps often as a child. This made her sick. She got depressions and anxiety states.
The jury at the court agreed with her. They say: The companies acted negligently. They did not warn about the dangers. They use features like endless scrolling. This keeps users on the sites for a long time.
The woman now gets 3 Million Dollar compensation. Meta must pay 70 percent of this amount. Google must pay 30 percent.
The companies must also pay a fine. It is 6 Million Dollar total. This ruling is a signal for the whole industry. There are many other lawsuits against these companies. One day before, Meta got another fine. Meta must pay 375 Million Dollar in another state.
That fine was about child protection. The companies want to fight the Los Angeles ruling. They make an appeal. This means: Another court checks the case again. Experts think: The ruling could change much.
