Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sits in his seat inside a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum for all U.S. senators hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
A landmark case against social media giants Meta, Alphabet’s YouTube and TikTok is set to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
It’s the first of several high-profile legal cases kicking off in 2026 that center on allegations that the companies misled the public about the safety of their apps despite knowing that certain design choices contributed to various harms on young users.
Social media companies have long used Section 230, the part of the Communications Decency Act that protects Internet speech, to shield themselves from liability for the content posted on their platform. That’s why in these cases, the plaintiffs are focusing their cases on alleged app-design flaws and related public misrepresentations of the safety of the services as a way to steer the arguments away from Section 230-related protections.
These trials have been compared to those brought against ‘Big Tobacco’ in the 1990s, and experts have said these cases could have long-lasting implications on regulation and public perception of these companies.
In Jan. 2024, lawmakers grilled several social media executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, during a Senate hearing focused on the companies’ efforts to safeguard children on their platforms.
The case kicking off Tuesday focuses on a young woman who alleges that she became addicted to social media as a minor because of certain features and characteristics of apps like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Snap was also part of the civil lawsuit, but the company behind the app Snapchat reached a settlement with the plaintiff last week before the trial commenced.
A separate trial kicks off next week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in which the state’s attorney general alleges that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram services failed to safeguard their apps from online predators who sexually exploited various children who used the services.
The New Mexico case is separate from other lawsuits filed by various state attorneys general across the U.S. that allege that design flaws in Meta apps have harmed the mental-well being of children. The company has said it expects those cases to begin as soon as the second half of 2026.
Yet another trial is expected to commence in the Northern District of California later this year that involves Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snap. That federal cases also involves allegations that these companies’ created defective apps that encourage unhealthy and addictive behaviors in teens and children.
Separately, New York City in October filed a lawsuit against Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok, arguing that they created addictive platforms that contribute to mental health issues among children
In the case this week, the three companies’ legal defense teams are expected to argue that third-party content posted to its platforms should be held liable, rather than their product designs.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai attends a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
First filed in 2022 by a plaintiff listed as “KGM” and her mother, the lawsuit is the first of its kind to go to trial, and it’s seen as a bellwether for several other lawsuits that have been filed across the country.
The lawsuit alleges that the tech companies knowingly designed features such as auto play and infinite scroll to make their platforms addictive, leading to mental health issues.
Google said in a media briefing last week that it expects the trial to last six to eight weeks. Jury selection could take up to a week, with opening statements beginning in early February.
This trial is expected to draw some big names to the stand.
In October, Judge Carolyn Kuhl ruled that Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri will need to testify. Google said there is the potential for either CEO Sundar Pichai or YouTube CEO Neal Mohan to be called, however neither have been ordered yet.
In its media briefing, Google said that it is not a social media platform in the same way that its co-defendants are. The company said that fundamentally it is a streaming platform and works with experts to build age-appropriate experiences.
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “The allegations in these complaints are simply not true.”
A Meta spokesperson pointed to a recent blog outlining its argument for the case, saying recent lawsuits misrepresent its commitment to creating safe and valuable experiences for young people.
“Protecting teens while allowing them to access the benefits of social media is one of the most important challenges our industry must address,” the Meta blog says.
TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.
The potential damages and outcomes could be significant for all of the companies involved. While the three social giants are named as co-defendants, the judge could rule separately for each of them, handing down different penalties if found liable.
Meta warned in an October filing that if found liable, the monetary damages from certain cases could be in the high tens of billions of dollars.
Google says it expects any liabilities to be mostly monetary with limited injunctive relief. That means it is also possible the judge rules the platforms need to make algorithmic changes to its product features.
— CNBC’s Julia Boorstin contributed to this report
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