Meta Knew They Were Addicting Kids. Now They’re Paying for It.
Internal documents and a novel legal strategy helped a 20-year-old young woman beat Meta and YouTube in the social media addiction trial.
Question Everything · Brian Reed
April 2, 202632m 37s
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Show Notes
<p dir="ltr">***Question Everything has been nominated for a Webby Award! <a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/individual-episode/news-politics">Please click here to vote for us.</a> The episode that was nominated is the event we held at Tufts University while grad student Rümeysa Öztürk was being detained by ICE for co-authoring an op-ed. Today (April 16th) is actually the last day to vote, so don’t wait. Thanks!***</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the span of two days, juries handed down landmark verdicts against Meta and Google. In New Mexico, a jury ordered Meta to pay the state $375 million for failing to protect young people from predators on Instagram. And in Los Angeles, a jury found that Meta and Google knowingly designed social media platforms that addicted a young girl, causing depression, body dysmorphia, and self-harm. </p>
<p dir="ltr">But as listeners to this show might wonder – isn't suing social media companies supposed to be impossible, because of Section 230?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Brian talks to co-lead counsel in LA, Mariana McConnell, about how they pulled off the win, what this huge verdict means for the internet, and the internal Meta document that said, “Young ones are the best ones.” </p>
<p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">newsletter</a> – we’ll be sharing Brian’s extended interview with Mariana McConnell there. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Guests: </p>
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<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Mariana McConnell, plaintiff's co-lead counsel </p>
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