'Blood in the water': LA jury hands Facebook and Google devastating legal loss

The parent companies of two of the most influential social media platforms were hit with a historic loss by a California jury on Wednesday.

While the damages awarded by the jury in the Los Angeles case were negligible for the tech giants, the decision sets a precedent for other potential lawsuits.

'It's a resounding verdict.'

The lawsuit was filed by a 20-year-old woman who alleged that the design of the online platforms led to her social media addiction and had a deleterious effect on her mental health.

The defendants included Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok.

Snapchat and TikTok settled with the woman before the trial began, but Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Google, the parent company of YouTube, were ordered to pay $3 million in damages.

Even more damaging, the jury ruled against the companies, despite the woman admitting that there were other unrelated causes that degraded her mental health.

In comments to Blaze News, economic expert Carol Roth pointed to the stock market reaction to the lawsuit.

"If the platforms are as addictive as the jury seems to believe, then the companies probably don't have much to worry about in terms of future earnings, as it means their customer base isn't going anywhere!" she joked.

"But on a more serious note, while the verdict and payout in the Los Angeles case sets a bad precedent for the company and future lawsuits," she added, "the damages won't have a material effect at this point on the companies, and the market's reaction to Meta and Google's stock price isn't showing any concern — in fact, in the case of Meta, the damages are lower than some investors expected. The biggest concern may stem from any future regulation pushes that make use of this ruling."

A spokesperson for Meta said in an email statement to Blaze News that the company "respectfully" disagreed with the verdict and will appeal.

"Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app," the statement reads. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online."

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Fox News legal analyst Josh Ritter, a criminal defense attorney, predicted the case would lead to a wave of lawsuits against the companies.

"It's huge as far as what it means for all of the other plaintiffs. This is now blood in the water. They now understand that these companies are vulnerable," Ritter said.

"These arguments work. ... It's a resounding verdict, even though the money itself is probably not a check that's gonna be all that difficult for these companies to write," he added.

Worse still for Meta, on Tuesday a jury ordered the company to pay $375 million over a lawsuit brought by the New Mexico state attorney general alleging the company misled users about sexual predators on their platforms.

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