国产诱惑福利

The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies are likely to play out. Jurors will begin deliberations Friday morning.

The plaintiff, identified as KGM in documents or Kaley, as her lawyers have called her during the trial, says her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts.

Mark Lanier, the attorney representing Kaley, began his closing statement by presenting the jurors with an image of a herd of gazelles surrounded by a lion. The lions never go after the strongest or boldest gazelles, he said, but rather target the ones they think are weakest.

鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what we got in this case,鈥� he said.

Lanier pointed to several internal documents from Meta and YouTube that he said seemed to illustrate a clear internal understanding of the potentially addictive nature of their platforms.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 naysay the opportunity to make money, but when you鈥檙e making money off of kids, you have to do it responsibly,鈥� he said.

Both the defendants and the plaintiff have pointed to a turbulent home life for Kaley. Her attorneys say she was preyed upon as a vulnerable user, but attorneys representing Meta and YouTube have argued Kaley turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.

Throughout the trial, Meta argued that Kaley faced significant challenges before she ever used social media. The jury鈥檚 only task, a Meta spokesperson said in a statement Thursday, is to 鈥渄ecide if those struggles would have existed without Instagram. Not one of her therapists identified social media as the cause.鈥�

As Lanier went through evidence and testimony presented during the trial, including Kaley's medical records and , he argued that the young girl wouldn't have wanted to bring up her persistent social media use at risk of having her phone taken away. She would return to platforms despite being on the receiving end of cyberbullying on them because it was easier for her to endure the bullying than be off the platforms, he said, echoing her testimony from late February.

But Paul Schmidt, an attorney representing Meta, said in his closing statements that Lanier was trying to argue that if Kaley had never used Instagram, her other mental health struggles would be different.

鈥淭he facts don鈥檛 allow that,鈥� he said, after spending much of his time outlining Kaley's medical records and her troubled familial relationships. 鈥淭he evidence has shown just the opposite.鈥�

In a briefing with reporters earlier, a Meta legal spokesperson also said they didn鈥檛 believe that youth mental health struggles, both broadly and with Kaley specifically, could be solved through litigation.

Instead of zeroing in on Kaley's mental health history, the attorneys representing YouTube have consistently argued that it is not a social media platform and that its features are not addictive. YouTube has also frequently made the comparison of its platform to television, emphasizing that it doesn't have the same social validation features as Instagram and other platforms.

Luis Li, an attorney representing YouTube, emphasized that when Kaley and her mother went through the process to file this lawsuit, they originally did not bring any claims against YouTube. Kaley was an adult when they filed the case and attested under oath that she did not have any claims specifically against the video platform. Li also spoke about how the company had created goals several years ago related to respecting users鈥� time, attention and overall wellbeing. Both he and Schmidt also outlined the specific safety features and guardrails the respective platforms have available for people to monitor and customize their use. Li said Kaley and her family did not use YouTube Kids, its safety mode or any of their other available tools.

Lanier, who has used drawings and illustrations throughout the trial to help jurors follow along with testimony and visualize the points being made, also brought out a cupcake to visualize a point related to the juror instructions that Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl had enumerated to them earlier Thursday morning.

Jurors must decide if Meta and YouTube鈥檚 negligence was a 鈥渟ubstantial factor鈥� in causing Kaley鈥檚 harm, but it does not have to be the only factor. The cupcake Lanier displayed to jurors had very little baking soda in it to cause it to rise, but it was a substantial factor in the baking process, he said.

Since it is a civil case, only nine out of the 12 jurors have to agree on each count. They will decide the case against each platform independently, and the judge advised them to treat it 鈥渁s if it were a separate lawsuit.鈥�

Jurors will also decide the amount of damages Kaley should be awarded in the event they find either or both of the platforms liable. Lanier advised them to think of one question as they potentially decide on that amount: "What is a lost childhood worth?鈥�

鈥斺赌�

Ortutay reported from Coloma, California.