Big tobacco whistleblower says Meta, YouTube knowingly designed addictive products for children — ‘They expected to…’

A Los Angeles jury recently found that Meta and YouTube deliberately created addictive products to harm children. The trial was closely watched by Jeffrey Stephen Wigand, a biochemist who acted as a whistleblower in the tobacco industry's landmark trials in the 1990s. To him, the social media trial seemed eerily familiar, sharing parallels with the trials faced by the tobacco companies that targeted children in the 1990s to use their products.

In an interview with The Guardian, Wigand said his first thought when he learned about the trial in California was that social media companies were using their advertisements to try to get children addicted, much like the big tobacco companies he exposed.

“I looked at these social media companies and how they target their ads. They’re meant for adolescents. That was clearly in their own documents,” the big tobacco whistleblower said in the interview.

He said that both tobacco and social media companies “intentionally addicted” children “so they could use them as cashflow.”

‘Social media companies knew’

Tobacco company Brown & Williamson (B&W) hired Wigand in 1989 to develop a safer cigarette. Wigand recounted his days at the firm, saying the company dismissed him for flagging carcinogenic ingredients in cigarettes.

He said that just like the tobacco companies, social media companies knew their platforms were addictive. “Social media companies knew it was addictive. They knew they had to create a base that was easy to manipulate. They chose children, just like the tobacco companies,” he said.

Explaining why children were targeted in both cases, he said they have a “malleable brain” that was easy to exploit.

Jurors at the Los Angeles court last week found that both Meta and YouTube knew or should have known their services posed a danger to minors, that they failed to adequately warn users of that danger, and that a reasonable platform operator would have done so.

“Social media knew what it was doing all along and expected to get away with it," Wigand said.

What social media companies can do

Wigand listed a few things that social media companies and authorities can do to ensure children are not harmed by the addiction factor.

“There are safeguards and guardrails that can be put up regarding age and content. It’s the same as tobacco: we can try to increase the age at which young people have access to social media,” he said.

Many countries are already starting to set age limits for social media use, with Australia leading the way. But the onus is not just on governments.

“I think they (social media companies) can enact some logical steps that put guardrails on access for children. It’s also a pretty hefty chunk of change that they’re going to have to give up,” Wigand said.

YouTube, Meta found guilty

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman because of an addictive design of their social media platforms, ordering the companies to pay $6 million in damages, including $3 million in punitive damages.

The verdict underscores the potential multibillion-dollar exposure from lawsuits which claim that Instagram, YouTube and other platforms are intentionally designed to addict young users without regard for their well-being.

The 12-person jury found that Meta and Google were negligent in the design and operation of their platforms and should have warned that their products might be dangerous for minors.