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The verdict’s in…is social media about to change forever?

The verdict’s in…is social media about to change forever?

A court in the US rules Instagram and YouTube are addictive.

What in the World · BBC World Service

March 27, 202610m 33s

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Show Notes

A 20 year old woman in the US has successfully sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media, winning $6million in damages.

Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed her mental health.

This result is likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts. Meta and Google said they disagreed with the verdict and intended to appeal.

In this episode BBC tech correspondent Joe Tidy explains the arguments made in the trial and whether this decision could lead to any changes in the way they work. And we hear your views on whether you think these apps are addictive and what you make of the ruling.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Benita Barden, William Lee Adams and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Verity Wilde