YouTube Argues It Isn’t Social Media in Landmark Tech Addiction Trial

YouTube told jurors on Tuesday that it is an entertainment platform, not a social network, and insisted its recommendation algorithm is not designed to be addictive. “It’s not trying to get in your brain and rewire it,” Luis Li, YouTube’s lawyer, said. “It’s just asking you what you like to watch.” The case centers on a 20-year-old California woman identified as K.G.M., who has accused YouTube and Meta’s Instagram of engineering apps that harmed her mental health.

The trial, in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles, is the first in a series of suits testing whether social media can create addictions comparable to slot machines and cigarettes; teenagers, school districts and states have filed thousands of related lawsuits.

On Monday, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, described the apps as “digital casinos,” pointing to internal documents that refer to features as “slot machines” and to Meta employees who compared tactics to tobacco companies.

United States, Los Angeles, California

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