Attorney Mark Lanier delivered opening statements Monday in a landmark lawsuit in Los Angeles against Meta (owner of Instagram) and Google (YouTube).[3] The lawsuit concerns the claim of plaintiff K.G.M., who started using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9 and uploaded 284 videos to YouTube before graduating from elementary school.[3] Lanier compared social media to casinos and addictive drugs, arguing that the companies profited from users' alleged addiction.[1][3] He presented internal emails, documents, and Meta's "Project Myst" study, where they interviewed 1,000 teenagers and their parents; findings have shown that children after trauma and stress are vulnerable to addiction and parental control has little effect.[3] The lawsuit alleges that the constant notifications led K.G.M. to non-stop use, which worsened her mental health, including bullying and a sextort on Instagram.[1] Meta responded that the question is whether the platforms contributed significantly to her problems, pointing to her record of emotional abuse and bullying.[3] TikTok and Snap are no longer settling the lawsuit, as they have settled for undisclosed amounts.[3] The process is considered a test case for hundreds of similar lawsuits.[1][2]