A jury begins deliberations Friday in a landmark trial against Meta and Google’s YouTube.
The plaintiff, a young woman, accuses the companies of engineering addictive features that contributed to her depression and suicidal thoughts during her childhood.
Closing arguments concluded Thursday.
Plaintiff attorneys argued the companies prioritized profit by designing platforms to capture user attention for advertisers.
Meta and YouTube contended that the plaintiff’s mental health issues stemmed from a turbulent home life rather than their platforms.
The outcome of this bellwether case is expected to influence the trajectory of thousands of similar lawsuits against social media firms.