As social media giants go to trial for alleged addictive practices, marketers should prepare for a shakeup.

Last week, lawyers gave closing arguments in a California case that seeks to determine whether Meta and Google's YouTube are liable for harms caused to children who use their platforms. The high-profile case is expected to be a bellwether for thousands of similar lawsuits.

• The plaintiff is a 20-year-old woman who claims that using social media platforms made her addicted and suicidal.

“I think we've absolutely hit a tipping point here,” said our analyst Oscar Orozco, in a recent “Behind the Numbers” podcast. “I think it's going to change how people look at social media platforms, how they use them. And, ultimately, that does have a generational effect into the coming decades, as well.”

Meta’s Instagram

Experts say the trial casts new light on what tech companies knew about their platforms’ addictive potential. Evidence of company knowledge might raise skepticism and caution in parents and younger users.

“One Meta document from 2015 [showed] how an estimated 30% of 10- to 12-year-olds in the US were using Instagram, and that the company had a goal to increase the time with 10-year-olds on Instagram,” said our analyst Marcus Johnson.

Meta launched supervision tools last month to alert parents when children and teens search for specific terms related to suicide.

Thus far, negative perceptions around safety on Instagram haven’t curbed its popularity. Marketers will have to weigh the brand risk against the reach to Instagram’s growing users.

• Meta’s US ad revenue across all platforms, including Facebook and IG, are projected to grow 14.2% YoY in 2026, according to EMARKETER's December 2025 forecast.

“Instagram is still growing like gangbusters and claiming more share and gaining minutes,” said our analyst Ethan Cramer-Flood.

YouTube controls

In the trial, lawyers for YouTube argued that it is neither addictive nor a social media platform. Still, consumers spend a good deal of time with the video service.

“People spend well over an hour and a half per day on the socials, and they spend almost an hour on YouTube,” said Cramer-Flood. “If you add them together, it's one of, if not, the biggest chunk of time that we collectively spend.”

• EMARKETER clocks YouTube viewers (2.77 billion) separately from social media users (4.26 billion) globally.

YouTube updated its controls in January so parents could limit the time younger viewers spend on the platform.

TikTok and Snapchat

TikTok and Snap Inc. were included in the same California case, but settled out of court before the trial began.

“There's a lot of complicated reasons that people don't want to go to court,” said Cramer-Flood. “So I can't presume as to what that was all about. But if they thought this was going to be a walk in the park, they probably wouldn't have done that.”

Analysts cautioned that marketers should keep an eye on how safe users feel using these platforms, while also considering commercial changes that affect user sentiment.

• 79% of Gen Z TikTok users said they “missed the early days” of TikTok before it became dominated by brand partnerships and ecommerce platform TikTok Shop, according to The Harris Poll cited by Mediapost.

US' relatively lax social media regulations are coming into focus as the trial winds down and other countries enact age limits for the platforms.

“Maybe this nudges the government closer to a ban for under 16-year-olds,” said Johnson. “We've seen that in Australia, other countries as well following suit with legislation. India, Spain, Denmark, the UK thinking about it as well.”

Listen to the full episode.

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