Regulate Companies, Not Children

In late March 2026, two juries in the United States delivered what many parents, child rights advocates, lawyers, human rights experts, and politicians had long been demanding: accountability from social media platforms. In California, a jury found Meta and YouTube liable on all counts in a landmark trial in which the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that the platforms were addictive and caused severe harm, an argument that had been used successfully in earlier cases against tobacco companies.

Unlike other forms of media, social media platforms have largely operated without safeguards. Television programming, films and video games are subject to age ratings and, in some cases, time-based restrictions on what children can see, or when, with content assessed on a case-by-case basis. But social media remains a largely unregulated space. While platforms have age restrictions for joining, enforcement is weak and children routinely bypass these barriers. As a result, children are exposed to the full spectrum of content without the protection long considered standard in other media environments.

The jury concluded that both companies had negligently designed their platforms to be addictive, finding they knew the dangers and failed to warn users. The platforms were ordered to pay a combined $6 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a single plaintiff, a woman now 20, who began using Instagram at 9, and YouTube at 6.