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Two landmark verdicts in two days. Here's what happened, what it means, and what might come next.
On March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube legally responsible for harming a young person through the algorithmic, addictive design of their platforms. A day earlier, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in a separate case in New Mexico. Together, these two verdicts mark a turning point in how governments and courts are thinking about social media.
For the past year, governments around the world have been taking increasingly aggressive steps to limit children's access to social media. Australia led the charge, becoming the first country to formally ban social media for users under 16 in December 2025.
The ban covers major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube. By March 2026, though, Australia's regulator acknowledged that platforms were still falling short on enforcement, and formal investigations into some platforms were underway.
Other countries moved quickly in Australia's wake. As of early 2026, bans are in effect or actively being put into effect in: Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Spain, Denmark, the UK, Germany, and Slovenia.
The case centered on a 20-year-old California woman, who was referred to throughout the trial as Kaley. She testified that she began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9, and that her early exposure to these platforms triggered addiction, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
Her legal team argued that Meta and YouTube were essentially manufacturers of defective products, deliberately engineered to maximize engagement at the expense of user wellbeing. Lawyers for both companies countered that Kaley had pre-existing mental health challenges unrelated to social media, and that their platforms include robust safety features.
After nearly 44 hours of deliberation over nine days, the jury sided with Kaley.
Verdict at a glance:
The trial featured testimony from some of the biggest names in tech. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand, as did Instagram head Adam Mosseri and YouTube VP of Engineering Cristos Goodrow. Mosseri testified that he considers social media use "problematic" but not "clinically addictive." Goodrow said his own children use YouTube for hours each day and that he believes it's good for them.
The day before the Los Angeles verdict, a separate jury in New Mexico handed Meta another loss. In that case, brought by state Attorney General Raúl Torrez, Meta was found to have misled consumers about platform safety and failed to protect children on Facebook and Instagram. The penalty was $375 million.
Unlike the L.A. case, which focused on addictive design, the New Mexico case zeroed in on child exploitation. They specifically focused on Meta's alleged failure to prevent predatory adults from contacting minors through its platforms. Meta said it disagrees with the verdict and plans to appeal. The case will enter a second phase in May.
In the immediate aftermath of the verdict, Wall Street mostly did nothing. Meta shares rose about 1% on the day, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) ticked up slightly too. The $6 million in damages from the L.A. case is really nothing for companies worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
However, the platforms’ designs are likely to change. There are several features that will likely come under particular scrutiny when it comes to minors: recommendation algorithms that surface harmful content, infinite scroll interfaces, and push notifications designed to pull users back in. We may see changes that lessen the pull for users to return to the apps.
That pull is already weakening on its own. Data from Statista suggests that social media usage peaked in 2023 and has been in decline ever since, with the drop most pronounced among Gen Z and users in their 20s–the very audiences that once drove the industry's growth. A large part of this shift can be attributed to the analog trend, a cultural response to digital burnout, AI fatigue, and the loss of intentionality.
Basically, people are turning to social media to document their breaks from social media. But it speaks to a real tension the platforms will have to reckon with. If courts and regulators succeed in dialing back the most addictive design elements, they may be accelerating a shift that's already underway culturally.
1. The federal trial this summer, where school districts and parents from across the country will test similar claims in a consolidated case before a Northern California court.
2. The appeals from Meta and Google. Both companies have signaled they'll fight these verdicts, which means the legal battle is far from over.
3. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which has stalled in the courts despite bipartisan support. The verdicts may give it new momentum.
It’s clear through these courtroom verdicts and global regulation signals that something real is shifting. The question now is no longer whether social media companies will face accountability. It's how much that accountability will cost, and how quickly it will force them to change the products that billions of people use every day.
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