YouTube Argues It’s Designed for Entertainment, Not Addiction, in Landmark Social Media Trial

YouTube is not a social media app, lawyers for the video streaming platform said in Tuesday opening arguments, kicking off a landmark trial that claims it and Instagram were deliberately designed to keep their users addicted.

The case before a California Superior Court jury in Los Angeles involves accusations by KGM, a 20-year-old woman who claimed YouTube and Instagram — owned by Google and Meta, respectively — exacerbated her mental health issues and induced depressive episodes and suicidal thoughts after she became addicted to them at an early age. KGM sued a collection of social-media companies in 2023, settling with TikTok and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, last month for undisclosed terms.

Her lawyers argued in their opening statements Monday that the platforms understood the risks long-term usage would cause yet maintained them as “digital casinos” — platforms, like the homes of slot machines, designed to keep users hooked.

Not so, YouTube’s lawyers claimed in their opening remarks on Tuesday. YouTube worked more as an entertainment platform, like Netflix, than a social media platform such as Facebook, its lawyer, Luis Li, said.

“It’s not trying to get in your brain and rewire it,” Li said, according to the New York Times. “It’s just asking you what you like to watch.”

The case represents a landmark test to how social-media companies have operated and retained their users in the digital age. Should lawyers for KGM prevail, the case could force companies to redesign their apps, pay out monetary damages and spur a new wave of legal claims.

Executives expected to testify include YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri.

Mark Lanier, KGM‘s attorney, argued on Monday in his opening statements that internal documents from YouTube’s parent company, Google, referred to features as “slot machines. He also pointed to Meta documents that showed employees had twice said its methods reminded them of tobacco companies.

All in all, he said, KGM’s case was “as easy as ABC,” according to the Times.

“Addicting, brains, children,” he said.

“They didn’t just build apps, they built traps,” he added. “They didn’t want users, they wanted addicts.”

Lanier did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

Meta’s attorney, Paul Schmidt, argued on Monday that KGM’s mental health issues stemmed from familial abuse, not its apps. He pointed to her family history and noted how her therapy sessions were not related to her use of social media.

“There is no dispute in this case that she’s experienced mental health struggles,” Schmidt said, according to the Times. “Was it Instagram or other causes? That’s the hearthstone that we’ll talk about.”

A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagreed with the allegations and was “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” They pointed to its 2024 launch of “teen accounts” on Instagram and its conversations with parents and law enforcement to introduce more safeguards.

“We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better,” the spokesperson said.

Li, YouTube’s lawyer, argued on Tuesday that YouTube was not designed for infinite scrolling. Instead, he said, users come to the service for specific clips and how-to videos and highlight reels, showing the jury screenshots of an Ariana Grande music video and highlights from an NFL game, according to the Times.

“If you don’t like it, turn it off — it’s that simple,” he said. “Infinite scroll is not infinite.”

He also said that, between 2020 and 2024, KGM used YouTube for 29 minutes a day, only four of which were spent on videos automatically suggested to her. Most of the remaining time was spent streaming music, while a minute a day was devoted to YouTube’s TikTok-like service YouTube Shorts, which lets users endlessly scroll through short-form vertical videos.

Li told TheWrap in a statement that his case showed that KGM “is not addicted to YouTube and never has been.”

“The data proves she spent little more than a minute a day using the very features her lawyers claim are addictive,” he said.

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