US Court: YouTube and Meta built addictive platforms

About this episode

The episode discusses the legal responsibility of Meta and YouTube for creating addictive platforms and the impact on mental health.

Meta and YouTube have been found legally responsible for creating addictive platforms. Meta is the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. Kaley, known only by her first name, started the lawsuit against Meta and YouTube in Los Angeles in the US, claiming that they had negatively impacted her mental health. She received $6m in damages. Meta argued that it’s worked over the years to fight these problems and promoted safe experiences for young people. However, a separate trial in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375m for misleading people about the child safety of their platforms. Learn about the news in language you can understand with Georgie and Becca. Get a free worksheet for this episode here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/learning-english-from-the-news_2026/260401 Learn about all our podcasts here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/podcasts

People in this episode

Hosts: Georgie, Becca

Guest: Kaley

Topics covered

• addictive platforms
• mental health
• lawsuit
• social media
• child safety

Keywords

• Meta
• YouTube
• lawsuit
• mental health
• addictive platforms
• child safety
• damages

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Meta, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp

Places: Los Angeles, New Mexico

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