Bobby Allen

It makes it hard to sue tech companies for content users post.

But this trial is framing social media platforms as a defective product designed knowing the harms they could cause.

The outcome of this trial could shape 1,600 other social media addiction cases still pending.

Bobby Allen in PR News.

We were like, we don't believe this.

Like, this is impossible.

The trial so far has focused on whether Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube should be considered defective products for unleashing into the world all sorts of features that we all know by now, like infinite scroll, you keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, autoplaying features, being able to like posts.

So the lawyers battling the tech company say the apps are like digital casinos.

They argue that Instagram and YouTube affect kids' brains no differently than a slot machine.

Zuckerberg will take the witness stand and defend Meta's social media apps before a Los Angeles jury.

A core question of the trial is whether tech companies should be found legally liable for designing social media apps in ways that have harmed or worsened users' mental health.

Silicon Valley has long avoided legal repercussions thanks to a federal shield known as Section 230.

It makes it hard to sue tech companies for content users post.

But this trial is framing social media platforms as a defective product.

designed knowing the harms they could cause.

Zuckerberg is expected to emphasize META's safeguards for teens.

The outcome of this trial could shape 1,600 other social media addiction cases still pending.

Bobby Allen, NPR News.

Social media companies have used a legal shield known as Section 230 to avoid all sorts of legal consequences of what people post to their sites.

It's been described as an impenetrable fortress for Silicon Valley.