The mechanism observed on Instagram (Meta) and YouTube (Google) did not happen by accident but on purpose, emphasized Mark Lanier in his opening speech, because addiction is profitable.
The outcome of the hearings could set a significant judicial precedent regarding the civil liability of social network operators who have been exempted so far. Namely, dozens of cases should follow this one in the coming months.
Among others, the Chief Executive Officer of Meta Mark Zuckerberg will be invited to testify on February 18, and the head of Instagram (subsidiary of Meta) Adam Mosseri on Wednesday.
In the absence of TikTok and Snapchat, who preferred to settle for a confidential amount, only YouTube (a subsidiary of Google) and Meta, the tech giant behind Instagram, are on the docket in this trial, which is expected to last more than a month, reports Hina.
Twelve jurors, confirmed Friday after more than seven days of meticulous selection, must decide on the lawsuit filed by 20-year-old Californian Kaley GM
Her case was deemed representative enough to serve as a test case whose outcome will set the benchmark for hundreds of similar lawsuits filed in California.
The young woman, a user of YouTube since the age of six, and then the owner of an Instagram account since the age of eleven, before Snapchat and TikTok, which she started using two to three years later, claims that she developed a strong addiction to social networks that dragged her into a spiral of depression, anxiety and self-image disorders.
(Vijesti.ba)
