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Social media firms face legal reckoning over mental health harms to kids

For years, social media companies have disputed allegations that they harm children's mental health through deliberate design choices that addict kids to their platforms and fail to protect them from sexual predators and dangerous content. Now, these tech giants are getting a chance to make their case in courtrooms around the country, including before a jury for the first time. Some of the biggest players from Meta to TikTok are facing federal and state trials that seek to hold them responsible for harming children's mental health. The lawsuits have come from school districts, local, state and the federal government as well as thousands of families. Two trials are now underway in Los Angeles and in New Mexico, with more to come. The courtroom showdowns are the culmination of years of scrutiny of the platforms over child safety, and whether deliberate design choices make them addictive and serve up content that leads to depression, eating disorders or suicide. Experts see the reckon

Meta to shut down standalone Messenger website from April: What changes

Meta will shut down its Messenger website (messenger.com) in April 2026, redirecting users to Facebook for web chats, marking another step in merging Messenger back into the main platform

WhatsApp allows users share group chat history with new members: Details

WhatsApp adds Group Message History feature that lets users share up to 100 recent group messages with newly added members, helping them catch up instantly

Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in landmark social media addiction trial

In 2024, the US Surgeon General called for adding warning labels to social media explaining the platforms were associated with mental health harms for ado- lescents

Youth discontent could trigger another rebellion, warns Nepal PM Karki

Nepal's interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Thursday warned that failing to address youth discontent could trigger another rebellion. Speaking on the 76th Democracy Day celebrations at the Nepali Army Pavilion in Kathmandu, she said democracy must deliver results, protect citizens' rights and ensure accountability. Referring to the Gen Z-led protests in September last year that led to the ouster of K P Sharma Oli-led coalition government, Karki said, "That movement sought an end to corruption, nepotism and discrimination. It sought good governance and equitable justice." "The state must respond to this not only with generosity, but also with humility and a deep sense of duty," she added. She warned that failing to address youth discontent could trigger another rebellion. "No nation can progress by undermining the youth," Karki, who became interim prime minister on September 12 last year, said. "The youth have energy, aspiration for change and moral anger," she said, adding ..

Zuckerberg testifies at trial accusing social media of harming teens

Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people's use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he's received about being "authentic" and not "robotic." Zuckerberg's testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Attorneys representing the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, claim her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. Beginning his questioning, the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier laid out three options of what people can do regarding vulnerable people: help them, ignore them, or "prey upon them and use them for our own ends." Zuckerberg said he agrees the last opti

Snapchat brings Insta-style Creator Subscriptions for additional content

Snapchat begins alpha testing of Creator Subscriptions in the US, letting users pay for exclusive Stories and Snaps, priority replies, and an ad-free viewing experience

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg set to testify in watershed social media trial

Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Meta's CEO is expected to answer tough questions on Wednesday from attorneys representing a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta's platforms, and he apologised to families at that hearing whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were because of social media. This trial, though, marks the first time Zuckerberg will answer similar questions in front of a jury and, again, bereaved parents are expected to be in the limited courtroom seats available to the public. The cas

AI Impact Summit: Age-based social media curbs on table, says Vaishnaw

Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government is in talks with social media firms on an age-based ban for children and deepfake controls, as AI investments near $200 billion and GPU procurement scales up

Meta secures patent to let deceased users' accounts remain active: Report

Meta's patent reportedly details how AI could simulate a deceased user's online presence - though the company says it has no plans to launch it

UK PM Starmer seeks powers to regulate online access for child safety

Britain's government said last month it would consult on an Australian-style social media ban for children under 16

Facebook now lets you animate profile photos using Meta AI: What's new

Facebook rolls out Meta AI tools to animate profile photos, restyle Stories and Memories, and add animated backgrounds to text posts for a more creative feed experience

Threads introduces 'Dear Algo' AI feature to personalise feed: How it works

Threads introduces "Dear Algo," a new AI-powered feature that lets users publicly request more or less of certain posts and adjust their feed for three days

Instagram chief grilled in court over profit versus mental health concerns

The trial is a test for thousands of similar cases with billions of dollars at stake, as well as the prospect that social media companies could be forced to change how they interact with youths

Social media not clinically addictive, says Instagram chief during US trial

Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta's Instagram, testified during a landmark social media trial in Los Angeles that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms. The question of addiction is a key pillar of the case, where plaintiffs seek to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 20-year-old identified only by the initials "KGM", whose lawsuit could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials - essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury. Mosseri said on Wednesday that it's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he called problematic use. The plaintiff's ..

MeitY's amendments on fake content to up risks for social media platforms

Experts say MeitY's amendment to the IT Rules for AI-generated content, which cuts takedown timelines to three hours, will increase compliance costs and risks for platforms

Instagram head Mosseri to testify on app design's effect on young users

Instagram head Adam Mosseri will testify in a US court case alleging features such as endless scroll encourage compulsive use among minors, raising mental health concerns

YouTube lawyer sees no addiction from half hour of videos a day in trial

Kaley, from Chico, California, was presented by her lawyers at the start of the trial against Google and Meta Platforms Inc. as the face of a scourge that has allegedly poisoned millions of Americans

Govt toughens rules on AI content, mandates 3-hour takedown timeline

From February 20, social media and internet intermediaries must remove unlawful content within three hours and non-consensual intimate imagery within two hours under amended IT rules

Landmark US trial alleges Meta, YouTube 'engineered addiction' in children

Comparing social media platforms to casinos and addictive drugs, lawyer Mark Lanier delivered opening statements on Monday in a landmark trial in Los Angeles that seeks to hold Instagram owner Meta and Google's YouTube responsible for harms to children who use their products. Instagram's parent company, Meta and Google's YouTube face claims that their platforms addict children through deliberate design choices that keep kids glued to their screens. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums. Jurors got their first glimpse into what will be a lengthy trial characterised by duelling narratives from the plaintiffs and the two remaining defendants. Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt spoke of the disagreement within the scientific community over social media addiction, with some researchers believing it doesn't exist or that addiction is not the most appropriate way to describe heavy social media use. Lawyers representing YouTube will begin their ...