We all know what it’s like to scroll endlessly on our phones, swipe after swipe, trapped in an infinite content loop. Sometimes, it can feel like a puppet master is keeping your thumb scrolling even when you know it’s best to stop.
That puppet master is, of course, the algorithm: the means by which social media companies make sure you’re served exactly what you need to see to stay online.
Whether or not this algorithm is causing harm to preteen and teenage users—and whether two Big Tech behemoths, Meta and YouTube, were negligent about that harm—have been the questions before a Los Angeles jury over the past few weeks.
On Wednesday, after nine days of deliberations, the jury found that Meta and YouTube were indeed negligent in the design of their algorithm and that they should have known their product was causing harm toward users like Kaley, the 20-year-old plaintiff identified in court records by her initials, KGM. The firms will have to pay a total of $6 million in damages. Also this week, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages for violating the state’s consumer and child exploitation laws.
