Business · 10 February 2026
Meta and Google accused of building addiction machines in landmark trial
Photo by Sanket Mishra on Pexels
In a landmark Los Angeles trial, attorney Mark Lanier accuses Meta and Google of engineering "addiction machines" that target children's brains. Representing 20-year-old plaintiff K.G.M., Lanier revealed a 2015 email where CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanded a 12 percent increase in user time. While TikTok and Snapchat settled before the trial began, the remaining tech giants claim the plaintiff's mental health issues stem from external factors rather than their platform designs.
Reported by BBC · How we write briefs