Tech Verdicts Represent Latest Attempt to Regulate Industry through the Courts

The recent multi-million-dollar verdicts against major tech companies underscore the ongoing misuse of the court system to drive sweeping social and policy changes through mass litigation rather than meaningful reform. 

Whether the industry on trial is tobacco, energy, or now technology, the playbook is always the same: trial lawyers stretching legal theories for financial gain, while real policy solutions fall by the wayside. 

New Mexico

On Tuesday, March 24, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to pay $375 million in a state-led case alleging harm to children. Attorney General Raúl Torrez partnered with an outside plaintiffs’ firm, Motley Rice, to bring the lawsuit on behalf of the state.  The case alleged that Meta misled users about its safety measures and enabled child exploitation online.  

California

On Wednesday, March 25, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google, the parent company of YouTube, liable for one 20-year-old woman’s social media “addiction,” resulting in a $6 million verdict. It is the first in a series of bellweather trials that involve claims that social media platforms are “addictive” and cause mental health challenges among young users.   

Tip of the Iceberg

The two verdicts mark the first wave in an avalanche of coordinated lawsuits filed in state and federal courts across the country. The various cases proceed under distinct legal theories: product liability, public nuisance, design defects, and failure to warn among them. 

More than 3,000 similar lawsuits filed against Meta, ​Google, Snap, and ByteDance have been consolidated in California state courts, while more than ‌2,400 cases have ⁠been centralized before a single judge in California federal court. The federal multi-district litigation includes lawsuits brought by 42 state attorneys general alleging harm to their states, as well as cases by school districts claiming social media addiction caused costly disruptions and problems.  

Roblox Corporation also is facing more than 130 lawsuits making similar claims that have been consolidated into a federal MDL.  

Regulation through Litigation

Bundling thousands of dramatically different claims and asking juries and courts to assign blame for every harm linked, however tenuously, to social media or internet is the latest attempt at regulation through litigation.

Lawmakers, regulators, and courts should recognize that genuine progress on online safety and youth mental health will come from clear, consistent policy — not unpredictable jury verdicts driven by emotional narratives and contingent-fee incentives.