In a lawsuit concerning social media addiction, Instagram and YouTube were found negligent and ordered to pay approximately 1 billion yen to each user.
In a civil lawsuit ongoing in Los Angeles, California, a court ruled that both Meta, which operates Instagram, and Google, which operates YouTube, were at fault and ordered them to pay a total of $6 million (approximately 957 million yen) to users who developed depression and body dysmorphic disorder.
Social media trial: Meta and Google found negligent : NPR
Landmark verdict finds Instagram, YouTube were designed to addict kids - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-25/social-media-lawsuit-trial-meta-google-verdict
The plaintiff is a 20-year-old woman at the time of writing. She claims that she started using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 11, and that her almost constant browsing of the apps and the incessant notifications made it difficult for her to stop using them, resulting in severe body dysmorphic disorder, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
A female lawyer argues that apps like Instagram and YouTube have become like casinos, with features such as constant notifications, endless scrolling for content viewing, and beauty filters, leading to addiction among young people. She points out that the problem lies not in the content users post, but in the structure of the service itself.
The woman had an extremely strong need for validation, and it was said that she would rush to the bathroom at school to check the number of 'likes' on her posts, making it difficult for her to concentrate on her studies. The lawyer collected hundreds of selfies the woman had posted during a period when she was struggling with body image issues and created a collage approximately 10 meters long. He showed it to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in court and bombarded him with questions such as, 'How could a girl who was below the minimum age of 13 to create an account have posted so persistently on the app?'
Meta and Google's lawyers emphasized that the woman had suffered emotional and physical abuse at home, and pointed out that her therapist had not reported that 'the use of the app was a contributing factor to her mental illness.'
After approximately six weeks of deliberation, the jury sided with the plaintiffs. The court ordered Meta and Google to pay $3 million in compensatory damages and a further $3 million in punitive damages. Meta was deemed more liable and will bear 70% of the total damages.
The plaintiffs' lawyer stated, 'Today's verdict is a historic moment.' Meanwhile, Meta and Google are dissatisfied with the verdict and intend to appeal.
Snapchat and TikTok were also defendants in this lawsuit, but they reached a settlement beforehand.
The court has designated this case as a 'precedent for several related lawsuits in California.' Similar consolidated lawsuits from school districts and parents across the United States are scheduled to be handled in the summer of 2026.
Just hours before this ruling, another ruling against Meta was handed down in New Mexico. In the New Mexico case, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million (approximately 59.8 billion yen) in damages for turning Instagram into a breeding ground for child sexual abuse.
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