Sustainable Media Center Responds to Landmark Social Media Harm Verdict

Meta, YouTube found Negligent. Verdict in Social Media Harm Case brings Sustainable Media Center membership and mission to the fore.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, March 26, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In K.G.M. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., et al., a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in the design and operation of their platforms, concluding that those failures were a substantial factor in causing harm to a young user. The jury also found the companies failed to adequately warn users of known risks, awarding $3 million in damages and assigning 70 percent responsibility to Meta and 30 percent to YouTube.
The case, widely viewed as a bellwether, is the first to take claims of social media addiction and youth mental health harm to trial against major technology platforms.

The Sustainable Media Center, a nonprofit focused on building a healthier digital ecosystem, issued the following statement:
“This verdict puts a stake in the ground,” said Steven Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Sustainable Media Center. “A jury reviewed how these systems are built and concluded that harm was not incidental. Profiting from missinformation just got a lot harder to do."

Rosenbaum said the findings go directly to the core defense long used by platform companies.

“For years, the argument has been that platforms are passive, that they simply host what users bring to them,” he said. “This verdict rejects that. It recognizes that these systems are engineered environments, and that engineering carries responsibility.”

He added that the decision reframes how risk should be understood going forward.
“When a product is designed to maximize time, repetition, and emotional response, you can’t separate the design from the outcome,” Rosenbaum said. “That connection is now on the record in a court of law.”

SMC emphasized that the lived experience of young users is now being reflected in legal findings.
“What young people have been describing for years is now being validated in a different arena,” said Emma Lembke, Director of Gen Z Advocacy at the Sustainable Media Center. “This case acknowledges that these platforms don’t just host behavior, they shape it in ways that can have real consequences.”
Lembke said the ruling marks an inflection point.

“There’s a shift happening from awareness to accountability,” she said. “And once that shift happens, it becomes much harder for companies to dismiss harm as anecdotal or unavoidable.”

The Sustainable Media Center also recognized the families, advocates, journalists, and legal teams whose persistence helped bring the case forward.
SMC highlighted the work of the Social Media Victims Law Center and attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett, along with Nicki Petrossi, host of Scrolling 2 Death, who reported on the trial extensively, and Sarah Gardner of The Heat Initiative, and Lennon Torres, for their continued advocacy.
The organization paid tribute to Tony and Brandy Roberts, who lost their daughter Englyn Roberts and have become leading voices for families seeking accountability, along with the many parents who traveled to Los Angeles, waited for hours to enter the courtroom, and remained outside when they could not get in, determined to witness the proceedings.

“This outcome reflects years of persistence by families who refused to accept that nothing could be done,” Rosenbaum said. “They forced this issue into a place where evidence matters, and where responsibility can be assigned.”

SMC noted that the case is expected to shape how thousands of similar claims are evaluated across the country.
“This is the beginning of a new phase,” said Lembke. “Not the end of the conversation, but the point where it becomes much harder to ignore.”
Rosenbaum said the broader question now is what changes follow.

“The legal system has now weighed in on how these products operate,” he said. “The next step is whether that leads to meaningful changes in how they are designed, or whether it takes more cases, more pressure, and more public scrutiny to get there.”

In reporting the significance of this ruling, the New York Times wrote: “The cases have been compared to those against Big Tobacco last century, when Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds were accused of hiding information about the harms of cigarettes. The companies reached a $206 billion master settlement with more than 40 states in 1998 that led to an agreement to stop marketing to minors. Strict tobacco regulations and a decline in smoking followed.”

Case Details:
Case: K.G.M. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., et al.
Court: Los Angeles County Superior Court, California
Case No.: JCCP 5255

Plaintiff’s Counsel:
The case was prosecuted by Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm, along with the Social Media Victims Law Center and co-counsel including Laura Marquez-Garrett. 600 1st Ave Suite 102-PMB 2382, Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: (206) 741-4862

PRESS NOTE: Emma Lembke and Steven Rosenbaum are available for interviews, analysis, and commentary. For media inquiries, contact Press@SustainableMedia.Center.

About the Sustainable Media Center
The Sustainable Media Center is a nonprofit organization working to build a healthier digital ecosystem by advancing accountability, supporting research, and elevating the voices of young people shaping the future of media and technology.

STEVEN ROSENBAUM
SustainableMedia.Center
+1 917-930-2511
email us here

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