Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to tackle 'addictive features' in social media, following a landmark US court ruling that held Meta and YouTube liable for harms caused by designing addictive technology. The verdict in a California court found the tech companies negligent for failing to warn users of potential dangers, awarding $6m (£4.5m) in damages to a plaintiff who became hooked on social media as a child.
Starmer said the ruling signals rising public expectation for stronger regulation. 'The status quo isn't good enough,' he stated. 'We need to do more to protect children. That's why we're consulting about issues such as banning social media for under-16s. I'm very keen that we do more on addictive features within social media.'
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrated the verdict, calling it 'a reckoning' and urging that children's safety be prioritised above profit. Google, which owns YouTube, said it would appeal, arguing that YouTube is 'a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.' Meta also said it would evaluate its legal options.
In Brussels, European Commission digital chief Henna Virkkunen said the case sends 'a very clear message' that online platforms must take risks seriously. The Molly Rose Foundation, set up after the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, welcomed the ruling as a potential watershed, urging the UK government to make safety and wellbeing 'the price for tech firms to pay for doing business in the UK.'
With similar cases pending in US courts, Sacha Haworth of the Tech Oversight Project declared: 'The era of big tech invincibility is over.'
