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. Lanier spent time describing KGM's childhood, focusing particularly on what her personality was like before she began using social media. A reckoning for social media and youth harmsA slew of trials beginning this year seek to hold social media companies responsible for harming children's mental well-being. In that trial, Meta is accused of failing to protect young users from sexual exploitation, following an undercover online investigation. A federal bellwether trial beginning in June in Oakland, California, will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harms to children.

Source: The Telegraph February 10, 2026 08:44 UTC