A jury in a California trial court ordered Meta and Google to pay $6 million (approximately 9 billion won) in damages, holding them responsible for adolescent social media addiction. The jury found that Instagram (Meta) and YouTube (Google) were designed to induce user addiction and that the companies bear responsibility for the resulting mental and physical harm. This marks the first case in which a court rejected platform companies' claims of content liability immunity and took issue with social media algorithms themselves. If the verdict is upheld, Meta will pay 70% of the damages and Google the remaining 30%.
The verdict has tipped the long-standing debate over whether platforms are tools of expression or agents of addiction. The plaintiff, a woman in her 20s, claimed she began using YouTube at age six and Instagram at age nine, subsequently suffering depression and physical disabilities from social media addiction. She specifically highlighted how "intentional design" features such as infinite scrolling and algorithmic recommendations drove her into addiction — and the court accepted this argument. Meta and Google have strongly contested the verdict, but if this legal judgment stands, numerous similar lawsuits are expected to follow.
Major countries are tightening regulations, treating adolescent social media addiction as a serious concern. Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media use entirely for children under 16 last year, and Malaysia introduced a similar policy this year. Japan and the European Union are also actively pursuing regulatory measures including usage time and age restrictions, while in France a related bill has passed the lower house and institutionalization is imminent.
In South Korea as well, controversy has been unceasing as the harms of excessive social media use among adolescents — including disruptions to daily life, deteriorating mental health, and exposure to drugs and sexual exploitation — continue to grow. In one government survey, 36% of adolescents said "social media interferes with daily life," and 47% said they "find it difficult to control their usage." Yet related regulations have stalled. Bills including an amendment to the Information and Communications Network Act that would restrict social media use for those under 16 have been introduced in the National Assembly but have made no progress. While social media serves many positive functions such as information access and communication, becoming trapped within it is problematic. It is time for Korean society to accelerate efforts to establish at least minimum social media safety measures to protect young people.