“Tech giants head to landmark US trial over social media addiction claims”, 27 January 2026

…A long-awaited series of trials kicks off in Los Angeles superior court on Tuesday, in which hundreds of US families will allege that Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube’s platforms harm children… Approximately 1,600 plaintiffs are included in the proceedings, involving more than 350 families and 250 school districts…

The initial trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. It involves a 19-year-old who is identified in court documents by the initials KGM…

Her case will be the first of about 22 “bellwether” trials, which are used as test cases to gauge juries’ reactions and potential verdicts. Ultimately, the landmark trials will cover thousands of lawsuits that have been coordinated in what is known as a judicial council coordination proceeding (JCCP)…

Meta and Snap did not respond to requests for comment. TikTok declined to comment.

YouTube spokesperson José Castañeda called the allegations in the lawsuits “simply not true”. He said providing young people with a “safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work” and that “we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls”…

Just a week before KGM’s trial was set to begin, Snap reached a settlement agreement with her lawyers in which the company denied wrongdoing… Snap is still a defendant in other suits…

Snap said in a statement at the time that the company was “pleased to have been able to resolve this matter in an amicable manner”.

The night before proceedings began, TikTok reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiff, meaning it will not stand trial alongside Meta and YouTube in KGM’s case…

A separate series of federal trials is scheduled to take place in San Francisco in June in what is called a multi-district litigation (MDL)…