Bobby Allen

This was just the story of one woman and her struggles and how social media led to a lot of those mental health struggles like depression and anxiety and body image issues.

But really, this case is tied to thousands of others that have been consolidated into one case that are sort of waiting to see the outcome of this one.

This is what's known as a bellwether.

It's a test case.

Now we're going to move to see how all of those thousands of cases will settle.

A jury has awarded a woman $3 million for mental health struggles that developed after compulsive use of YouTube and Instagram.

After a month-long trial, a jury found that Meta and Google deliberately designed social media platforms to addict young people.

The verdict comes a day after a separate jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect kids and teens from child predators on its platforms.

The Los Angeles jury found that Meta and Google acted with malice, which means the case now moves to the punitive stage, where the amount of damages could be far more.

Google and Meta are vowing to fight the verdicts, which are the first-ever judgments against the social media industry over the harms of its platforms.

Bobby Allen, NPR News, Los Angeles.

A jury has awarded a woman $3 million for mental health struggles that developed after compulsive use of YouTube and Instagram.

After a month-long trial, a jury found that Meta and Google deliberately designed social media platforms to addict young people.

The verdict comes a day after a separate jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect kids and teens from child predators on its platforms.

The Los Angeles jury found that Meta and Google acted with malice, which means the case now moves to the punitive stage, where the amount of damages could be far more.

Google and Meta are vowing to fight the verdicts, which are the first-ever judgments against the social media industry over the harms of its platforms.

Bobby Allen, NPR News, Los Angeles.

A jury of five men and seven women have been deliberating for more than a week and have indicated they may be close to a verdict.

The case focused on a California woman who said she developed depression, anxiety, and body image issues after compulsively using Instagram and YouTube as a young child.

Lawyers for the woman say Meta and Google built defective products that led to her becoming addicted to social media and contributed to her mental health struggles.