Sawt Falasteen - Jury selection begins in landmark social media addiction trial

The case being heard in a California state court in Los Angeles is being called a "bellwether" proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.

Defendants in the suit are Alphabet, ByteDance and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

Meta co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is slated to be called as a witness during the trial.

Social media firms are accused in hundreds of lawsuits of addicting young users to content that has led to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization and even suicide.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are explicitly borrowing strategies used in the 1990s and 2000s against the tobacco industry, which faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies sold a harmful product.

The trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl is expected to start next week after a jury is selected.

It focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media.

"This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids," Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman, whose team is involved in more than 1,000 such cases, told AFP.

The center is a legal organization dedicated to holding social media companies accountable for harms allegedly caused to young people online.

"The fact that now K.G.M. and her family get to stand in a courtroom equal to the largest, most powerful and wealthy companies in the world is, in and of itself, a very significant victory," Bergman said.

Internet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which frees them of responsibility for what social media users post.

However, this case argues those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people's attention and to promote content that winds up harming their mental health.

"The allegations in these complaints are simply not true," said Jose Castaneda, a YouTube spokesperson.

"Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work," he added.

Meta and TikTok have also rejected the allegations.

Snapchat last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the trial. The terms were not disclosed.

Lawsuits, including some brought by school districts, accusing social media platforms of practices endangering young users are also making their way through federal court in Northern California and state courts across the country.

T.Samara--SF-PST