Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection

Weather - Sydney 9°C

Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection

ECONOMY 07.02.2026

Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection / Photo: © AFP

A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta's divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Change text size:

Meta's lawyers fought for six days in court to remove jurors who they deemed overly hostile to Facebook and Instagram, two of the social media platforms involved in the case.

The plaintiff's lawyers sought to dismiss people, mostly men, who believed that young internet users' mental health issues are more attributable to parental failures rather than tech platform designers.

With the jury of 12 members and six alternates approved on Friday, arguments in the case are now scheduled to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The case is being called a bellwether proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.

Defendants at the trial are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram. TikTok and Snapchat were also accused, but have since settled for an undisclosed amount.

The trial focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.

She accuses Meta and YouTube of knowingly designing addictive apps, to the detriment of her mental health.

- 'Start fairly' -

Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."

"I feel impartial toward the plaintiff, but based on things Mark Zuckerberg has done objectively -- I have strong feelings about -- and I think the defendant would start further behind," said one young woman.

Many potential jurors criticized Facebook's early days -- it was designed as a platform for college students to rate women's looks -- and cited the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach of 2018.

They also said it would be difficult for them to accept the billionaire's testimony -- expected in the next two weeks -- without prejudice.

Meta's lawyer, Phyllis Jones, raised frequent objections to such jurors.

She said it was "very important that both sides start fairly, with no disadvantage, that you look at the evidence fairly and decide."

Others were dismissed for the opposite reason.

"I like this guy," said one rare Zuckerberg fan. "I regret not owning Meta shares."

He was dismissed by the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier.

Others to be removed included a man who expressed his anger against psychiatrists, and several people whose loved ones suffered from social media addiction or harassment.

- Seeking distance -

Alphabet's lawyers were keen to ensure that their platform YouTube was not lumped in with Meta.

"Does everybody understand that YouTube and Meta are very different companies? Does everyone understand that (Zuckerberg) doesn't run YouTube?" asked Luis Li, a lawyer for Google's video platform.

One man said he saw the potential for YouTube to seek to trigger "immediate dopamine" rushes among users through its "Shorts" feature.

He said his niece spends too much time on TikTok, which popularized a platform that provides endless scrolling of ultra-short-format videos.

The case will focus not on content, on which front platforms are largely protected by US law, but on the design of algorithms and personalization features.

The plaintiffs allege that the platforms are negligent and purposely designed to be harmful, echoing a strategy successfully used against the tobacco industry.

Meta and YouTube strongly deny the allegations, and also unsuccessfully argued on Friday for the judge to declare statements comparing their platforms to tobacco and other addictive products to be illegitimate.

The debate on the platform's level of responsibility for their effect on users was already underway, even at this early stage of the trial.

Alphabet's lawyer Li asked the panel if people spend too much time on phones, with the majority nodding in agreement.

"As a society, is it a problem?" he asked, with most hands again going up.

He then asked if this is "because of YouTube?" prompting hesitation from the jurors.

L.Graham--TNT

Featured

Nearly 1,100 flights cancelled after UK air traffic control glitch

Almost 1,100 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled Tuesday due to what the country's air traffic control service called a technical issue, in the latest glitch to spark travel chaos.

Carney touts Canada 'pivot' away from US as tariffs rise

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said reducing economic ties with the United States would come at a cost but the long-term benefits were clear, as retaliatory tariffs on US products took effect.

The "Everlasting Battery" Inside Your Joints:UConn Professor's Self-Powered Healing Material just Got Acquired

A material that turns your own movement into medicine has just landed a corporate home. PetVivo Holdings (OTCQX: PETV), a veterinary biotech and biomedical device company focused on treating osteoarthritis in dogs and horses, has acquired PiezoBioMembrane (PBM) — a startup built around a biodegradable implant that generates electricity from the everyday force of a joint in motion, and uses that charge to help regrow cartilage from the inside out. The material is the invention of Thanh Nguyen, a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering, who founded PBM in 2021 to advance new implementation methods for his work with piezoelectric materials — substances that convert mechanical force into electrical energy. These materials are typically ceramics: hard, brittle, and poorly suited for medical use. But Nguyen's lab developed new forms that are so , flexible, and biodegradable, breaking down naturally within the body over time. wound healing, The materials have already shown strong potential across a range of medical applications, including tissue regeneration, implanted force sensors, and targeted drug delivery in tumor treatment. How It Works biodegradable ultrasound for In the case of arthritis, Nguyen explains, the piezoelectric materials function as an off-the-shelf product that can be implanted or injected directly into the ailing joint — with no drugs, chemicals, or cells required. The everyday force exerted on the joint generates a small electrical charge, which helps regrow healthy cartilage, mimicking the body's natural use of electricity to regenerate tissue. "The body can be electrically stimulated to regrow," Nguyen says. PBM's materials "act like a battery — an everlasting battery that works whenever there is a force applied, and vanishes safely inside the body over time." PetVivo's Vision for the Acquisition PetVivo Holdings CEO John Lai expressed enthusiasm for the merger's potential to improve the lives of companion animals globally. "PBM has developed a compelling functional biomaterials platform with the potential to support the development of multiple medical device and therapeutic product lines across both human and animal health markets," Lai said in a press release. "By combining PBM's scientific innovation with PetVivo's product development capabilities, commercialization experience, regulatory expertise, and public company infrastructure, we believe we can accelerate theadvancement of technologies that may serve as the foundation for numerous future products and strategic opportunities." For Nguyen, the deal is a chance to scale technology that could eventually benefit both animals and people. "PetVivo is an animal health company, but they do have a big passion: pushing the technology towards clinical trials for human use," Nguyen says. "That aligned perfectly with my passion for developing technology that has an impact on human life. That is why I am excited about this merger, which facilitates my passion." A Track Record of Innovation Nguyen's research sits at the intersection of medicine, micro/nanotechnology, and biomaterials. His inventions have earned him publications in prominent scientific journals and media coverage from outlets including NPR. Nguyen founded PBM during the COVID-19 pandemic, a er realizing the material he had developed could be used to create an especially effective, biodegradable face mask — one where the mechanical force of breathing generated an electrical charge that provided an extra layer of protection against viruses. PBM is not Nguyen's only venture in the acquisition pipeline. His other startup, Single-Time Microneedles (STM), is also currently undergoing an acquisition process. STM has pioneered stable, efficient vaccine delivery technology in the form of an adhesive patch. shelfNguyen's focus on biodegradable materials has translated into a remarkably diverse range of medical applications. He has received five R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting research in cartilage regeneration, bone regeneration, HIV antibody delivery systems, and biodegradable ultrasound technology to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for brain cancer. "Whatever we are working on, we want to show that it works very well in vitro and in vivo," Nguyen says. "Then, when we are at the point of commercialization, we set up a startup or license the technology — or maybe team up with an industry partner." Thanh Nguyen is a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering. (Courtesy of Thanh Nguyen

Octrado introduces its proprietary trading offering: "Your Skill. Our Capital"

Infrastructure, transparent rules and clear legal boundaries positioned as the core of the funded-account model

Change text size:

The National Times - Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection