Meta and Snap Face Los Angeles Youth Social Media Addiction Trial as Haidt Documents Surface

Jury selection began in Los Angeles in a trial against Meta Platforms and Snap, brought by two plaintiffs who say the companies' platforms were designed to be addictive and harmed their mental health. The plaintiffs, a 16-year-old from Illinois identified as S.J. and an 18-year-old from Mississippi identified as K.D.B., sued in 2023. They allege that endless scrolling, Snapstreaks and other features kept them hooked and contributed to problems including depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, suicidal ideation and self-harm. TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube were original defendants but settled before trial, and Meta also settled with S.J. A Meta spokesperson said the company disagrees with K.D.B.'s allegations. The case is the latest in a wave of suits over social media's effect on young people. Separately, documents unsealed in California federal court last Friday include notes from a March 2023 Meta meeting on well-being. The notes say an executive named Curtiss, likely research chief Curtiss Cobb, set a goal of discrediting social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation. Staffers also discussed a quiet strategy to turn academics against him and contacting a media figure called Gellman about a takedown piece.

The right-leaning New York Post leads with the unsealed documents, with a headline about a Meta "whisper strategy" against Haidt. It stresses the meeting notes, the executive named Curtiss and the unidentified Gellman, and notes that Meta lost a Los Angeles addiction case earlier this year, citing Haidt's tobacco-industry comparison. It does not feature the plaintiffs. The left-leaning CBS News leads with the start of jury selection, naming S.J. and K.D.B., listing their alleged harms, quoting the complaint's design allegations and detailing the settlements and Meta's response. It does not mention Haidt or the documents. Both sides center on Meta and youth mental health, but they differ on whether the story is the courtroom case or the company's internal conduct. Reuters, listed as alternative, largely matches CBS in framing the trial as a legal test.