A California judge has ruled that Meta Platforms, along with ByteDance, Alphabet, and Snap, must face trial over allegations that they designed their social media platforms to be addictive to young users. The ruling, from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl, rejected the companies' final attempt to avoid a jury trial, allowing claims of designing addictive platforms to move forward. This decision paves the way for the first in a series of trials, scheduled to begin in January, where platform users will testify in court about their alleged addiction and related suffering. The litigation, which has been developing for approximately three years, targets popular platforms such as Meta's Instagram and Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat.