Bobby Allen

But in recent years, plaintiffs' lawyers have gotten pretty creative, and they are now suing tech companies under product liability law to say...

You know what?

These platforms are essentially defective products like a defective car or a defective toaster, and that Meta and Google, the equivalent of a manufacturer, should be held liable.

NPR's Bobby Allen reports.

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' posts.

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.

Meta and Google have told jurors social media is not clinically addictive.

Packing the courtroom are grieving parents whose children have died from self-harm the parents linked to social media use.

Like Ellen Room, who traveled from England.

She comes to court with a framed photo of her 14-year-old son, Jules.

The trial is a test case for more than a thousand other pending cases blaming social media apps for addictive design features.

Meta says it's long prioritized child safety.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify next week.

Bobby Allen, NPR News, Los Angeles.