Jury selection begins in landmark trial on social media, kids

"Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,"

"We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people."

"Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls."

Jury selection begins in Los Angeles Superior Court for a lawsuit alleging Meta and YouTube engineered platforms to be addictive, harming young users' mental health. Plaintiffs, including a 19-year-old identified as K.G.M., claim designers borrowed techniques from slot machines and the cigarette industry and added features like auto-scrolling to maximize youth engagement and advertising revenue, contributing to anxiety, depression and body image problems. Meta and YouTube deny the allegations, point to other contributing factors to youth mental health, and cite measures such as teen-specific accounts, expert collaboration, and parental controls. TikTok settled before jury selection.

Read at ABC News