California Trial Targets Social Media Addiction Claims (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: In California, jury selection begins later today in a landmark trial of social media companies. The tech giants are accused of causing addiction and mental health problems with their products in a case that could have wide-ranging implications. Our tech correspondent, Lily Jamali, reports.

[00:00:17] Speaker 2: Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are where billions of users around the world go to be entertained, informed, and to stay connected. But there's a dark side, according to lawyers for an alleged victim identified by her initials, KGM.

[00:00:32] Speaker 3: KGM is a young woman who got on social media at the age of eight and sustained a social media addiction that had a very negative effect on her emotional and psychological well-being.

[00:00:47] Speaker 2: And he says she's not alone in finding herself addicted to social media.

[00:00:51] Speaker 3: Unfortunately, there are all too many kids in the United States and in the UK and around the world who are suffering as KGM does because of the dangerous and addictive algorithms.

[00:01:02] Speaker 2: Attorneys say the trial starting Tuesday marks the first time in history that social media companies have ever been held to account by a jury in a court of law anywhere in the world. For years, the companies that run Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube have successfully used a 26-word legal provision from 1996 before social media even existed as a legal shield. They've argued it means they're not responsible for what users post to their platforms. These cases will examine how the companies design their platforms, relying on company documents to show how they kept users scrolling, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.

[00:01:43] Speaker 4: So a lot of what these companies have been trying to shield from the public is likely going to be aired in court, and that is also significant.

[00:01:52] Speaker 2: Executives like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also set to take the stand. He's defended his company on this issue in the past.

[00:02:00] Speaker 5: They're not often good under pressure when they have to answer questions about what did you know and when did you know it, why did you continue to do this particular harmful practice when you knew it was causing harm.

[00:02:12] Speaker 2: CAP CEO Evan Spiegel was also set to testify until last week when his company settled. The trial comes as platforms come under increased scrutiny from families, school districts, and prosecutors.

[00:02:24] Speaker 6: There's a question about should these companies even exist, and I'm a fan of them. I think they do a lot of good. They definitely don't come for free. They cause harm as well.

[00:02:33] Speaker 2: It'll now be up to a jury to decide whether they're at fault for those harms. Samali, BBC News, San Francisco.