Gender could play decisive role in landmark L.A. social media addiction suit

"Whenever I got a bunch of likes I was really happy, and it made me feel really good about myself. If I didn't, I would feel insecure, like I looked ugly. Every single day I was on it, all day long. I can't [stop], it's just too hard to be without it, and every time I've tried to stop I've just been unsuccessful."

"Kaley's lawsuit is a test case chosen from among hundreds alleging that social media apps were designed to snare young kids and keep them hooked. But it's her Los Angeles jury that will set the stakes for thousands of suits still to come, making this one of the corporate world's most closely watched legal battles."

"Kaley, the first plaintiff ever to reach trial in a case seeking to hold platforms liable for alleged harms to children, said she became addicted to social media as a grade-schooler and has struggled for more than a decade. She charges the apps left her with anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia - a pathologically distorted self-perception, most prevalent in girls, that a growing body of research has linked to social platforms."

A 20-year-old woman named Kaley G.M. testified in Los Angeles County Superior Court about her decade-long addiction to YouTube and Instagram beginning in grade school. She described how social media validation through likes affected her self-worth and contributed to anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia. Her case represents the first plaintiff to reach trial in lawsuits seeking to hold social media platforms liable for harms to children. The trial has revealed gender as a significant factor, with female jurors showing emotional responses to her testimony about the psychological damage caused by these platforms. This case will set precedent for hundreds of similar suits against social media companies.

Read at Los Angeles Times