California Woman to Testify Against Meta and YouTube in Landmark Social Media Trial

A California woman who started using Instagram at age 9 and YouTube at age 6 is set to testify Thursday in her groundbreaking lawsuit against the tech giants. She claims the platforms deliberately hooked children on their services despite knowing the mental health risks, contributing to her depression and body image issues.

A groundbreaking legal battle against major tech companies continues Thursday in Los Angeles, where a California woman is scheduled to give testimony about how childhood exposure to social media platforms damaged her mental well-being.

The plaintiff, identified in legal documents as Kaley G.M., started using YouTube when she was just 6 years old and began accessing Instagram at age 9. She alleges these early experiences with social media led to serious mental health struggles, including depression and body dysmorphia.

According to her legal team, both Meta Platforms and Google deliberately designed their services to create dependency among young users while being fully aware that social media exposure could cause psychological harm to children.

Her scheduled court appearance follows testimony from her previous psychotherapist, who told the court Wednesday that teenage social media use was a “contributing factor” in the woman’s psychological difficulties.

This legal challenge reflects a growing worldwide movement to hold social media companies accountable for potential damage to young people’s mental health. Australia recently implemented a complete ban on social media access for anyone under 16, while several other nations are exploring similar protective measures.

Both YouTube and Meta have rejected these accusations, stating that the evidence presented does not validate the plaintiff’s assertions about their platforms causing harm.

The plaintiff’s legal representatives brought in the therapist to establish groundwork for the current trial phase, which examines whether and how Kaley’s childhood interaction with these platforms impacted her psychological state.

Earlier portions of the trial concentrated on examining what these companies understood about social media’s effects on children and their marketing approaches targeting younger demographics. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided testimony indicating his company considered but ultimately decided against launching products specifically for children.

For a successful outcome, Kaley’s attorneys must demonstrate that the companies’ platform design or operational methods played a significant role in either causing or intensifying her mental health problems.