TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Mar 27, 2026

Jurors in two of the first U.S. trials in a growing wave of lawsuits against social media companies have found Meta and Google liable for harms to young users, potentially setting up appeals that could reshape the scope of legal protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Reuters reports. In California, a jury on Wednesday awarded $6 million to a young woman who said she developed depression and suicidal thoughts after becoming addicted to Instagram and YouTube, while a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding it misled users about product safety and enabled the sexual exploitation of children. The cases mark a challenge to the law that generally shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content, as plaintiffs successfully argued the companies’ platform design — rather than third-party content — caused harm. Both companies have said they plan to appeal.