04/11/2026
For decades, the understanding was that social-media companies were essentially immune from legal liability for potentially harmful content posted on their platforms by third parties. But, in 2023, Kaley, who was then 17 years old, filed suit in California, claiming that she had become addicted to social media as a child, which had caused anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia. Many other lawsuits alleged similar harm, but Kaley’s case was selected as a “bellwether”—a test case to go to trial first and show how a jury would react to the claims.
Kaley’s lawyers pushed that tech companies had designed social-media apps to “maximize user engagement” with features such as infinite scroll, beauty filters, autoplay, push notifications, and tailor-made algorithms, and that, in so doing, the companies had been negligent. A California jury sided with Kaley, awarding her $6 million in damages. Link in comments.
