Meta and Snap began jury selection in Los Angeles on Wednesday in the second trial over individual users’ claims that social media is built to be addictive, according to Reuters. A 16-year-old from Illinois and an 18-year-old from Mississippi say autoplay and infinite scroll hooked them as kids and led to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Both have already settled with TikTok and YouTube, and Meta reached a deal with the Illinois teen too, so Snap faces both claims while Meta faces only the Mississippi one. Meta says the Mississippi plaintiff spent much more time on TikTok than on Meta’s apps, and Snap says its app doesn’t open to a feed. The cases are bellwethers for over 3,000 suits in that court, where the first trial ended in March with a $6M verdict against Meta and YouTube.
