The awards in verdicts against two of the world’s social media giants amount to just a fraction of the companies’ wealth. But Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said these rulings against Meta and Google could signal a larger trend.
The Los Angeles verdict found Meta and YouTube were to blame for a 20-year-old woman’s depression and anxiety.
“I was frankly shocked at the magnitude of it,” Haugen told Here & Now’s Robin Young. “She got $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive, which if you worked it out across the United States, if less than 1% of kids in the states were impacted, that would be over $1 trillion. It’s huge.”
In a statement, Facebook responded: “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
Do you think there will be other lawsuits?
“Just in Southern California. Remember, this is a state-level lawsuit, not a federal one. There’s 1,600 plaintiffs just in Los Angeles, as we have trials warming up in Northern California. The multistate lawsuit, think like the tobacco lawsuit, is gearing up later this year. School districts are suing. It’s going to be huge.”
How does Facebook change?
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