The jury ruled in favour of the plaintiffs on Wednesday, in a landmark lawsuit against social media companies holding Meta (META) and YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL) liable and requiring them to pay $6m in punitive and compensatory damages.
The case, known as JCCP 5255, was initially filed in 2023 and was tried at the Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles. It revolved around a now-20-year-old woman known in legal filings as K.G.M. and her mother, Karen, who alleged that K.G.M.’s social media use, which began when she was 10, led to “dangerous dependency on [the social media companies’ products], anxiety, depression, self-harm, and body dysmorphia.”
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The jury in the case said that both Meta (META) and YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL) knew the design of their platforms were dangerous, that users wouldn’t realise the danger, and that the companies failed to warn of the danger when a reasonable platform would have.
“This verdict is bigger than one case,” the plaintiffs’ lead counsel said in a statement following the results.
In a statement, a Meta (META) spokesperson said, “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options.”
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement, “We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal. This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”
TikTok and Snap (SNAP) were also named defendants in the lawsuit, but each settled before the trial began.
AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC) saw their stock prices surge on Wednesday in the US on reports that the two chipmakers told clients the price of CPUs could be hiked.
Average price increases could be between 10% and 15%, according to a report by Nikkei Asia which cited sources. The increases will start in March and April, the report added.
AMD (AMD) stock was 7.2% higher by the closing bell in the US on Wednesday.
London-listed clothing retailer Next (NXT.L) was the top gainer in the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) on Thursday, ticking higher as it said in its annual trading statement that pre-tax profits rose 14.5% to £1.16bn in the year to January as sales increased by almost 11% to £7bn.
It upped its profit guidance by £8m to £1.2bn for the year to January 2027 after better than expected sales in January this year.
The bump came even as it said the war in the Middle East is set to cloud its outlook, adding £15m of costs, assuming it will drag on for three months. It said it will have to increase prices if the conflict lasts any longer than that.
