From the New York Times, it's The Headlines.

I'm Tracy Mumford.

Today's Thursday, March 26th.

Here's what we're covering.

This is Ryan Mack with the New York Times.

I'm actually sitting outside on the steps of a Los Angeles courthouse where a trial just wrapped up, essentially looking at the addictive nature of social media apps.

In a landmark case yesterday, META and YouTube were found to be negligent in how they've built the platforms that have become a huge part of modern life.

A jury found that META, the parent company of Instagram and YouTube, were essentially

liable for the mental health distress caused to a plaintiff because of the design of their

apps.

The case was brought by a young woman who said that she started using social media almost

constantly around age six, and that it led to anxiety,

depression, and thoughts of self-harm. She testified that features like infinite scroll and

constant new recommendations from algorithms kept her hooked, saying, quote, I just felt like I wanted

to be on it all the time. If I wasn't on it, I was going to miss out on something.

The jury agreed. And Ryan says, while the damages she was ultimately awarded of $6 million are obviously just a drop in the bucket for the trillion-dollar companies involved, the moment

is bigger than that. This is just one of thousands of lawsuits filed by teenagers, school districts, and states against social media platforms,

and it could pave the way for more, potentially exposing the internet giants to bigger financial penalties,

and even forcing them to change their products.

The verdict has essentially validated a novel legal theory that social media can be addictive and as harmful

as products like cigarettes. That's led to this being called social media's big tobacco moment,

a callback to when companies like Philip Morris were accused of hiding information about the harms of

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