Marketplace All-in-One Meta and Youtube held liable for their addictive products
Apr 1, 2026
Eric Goldman, co-director at Santa Clara University’s High Tech Law Institute and internet law professor. He discusses recent jury verdicts holding platforms responsible for addictive design and misleading child-safety claims. Short takes cover how juries were persuaded, bellwether trial effects, Section 230 workarounds, and what appeals and industry changes might look like.
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Juries Are Buying The Harm Narrative
- Juries in Los Angeles and New Mexico accepted plaintiffs' core story that social platforms caused harm to children.
- Eric Goldman notes these bellwether verdicts give one data point suggesting juries may be receptive to similar claims in thousands of pending cases.
Bellwether Verdicts Guide Mass Litigation
- Bellwether trials serve as statistical samples to gauge how juries respond to many similar cases.
- Goldman explains one verdict is a data point; multiple similar results would strongly influence settlement and litigation strategies.
Different Plaintiffs, Same Liability Message
- Both juries accepted the premise that social media services should bear legal responsibility for harms to victims.
- One case was a private plaintiff in California and the other was the New Mexico attorney general, showing cross-context judicial sympathy.