2026-03-26 / 美国东部时间下午3:44 / CBS新闻
专家告诉CBS新闻，本周针对Meta和YouTube的连续判决可能为科技公司的问责开启新篇章，同时也为新的法律挑战打开大门。
在新墨西哥州和加利福尼亚州作出的两起案件判决，是首次认定社交媒体公司对伤害年轻人负有责任。
周二，新墨西哥州陪审团裁定Meta因未能保护年轻用户免受侵害者伤害，并就其应用程序安全性误导用户，需支付3.75亿美元民事处罚。
周三在洛杉矶作出的另一项裁决中，陪审团认定Meta和YouTube在设计和运营其平台时存在疏忽，导致原告——一名20岁名叫凯莉（Kaley）或”KGM”的年轻人——遭受心理健康伤害。该案件的陪审员裁定两家公司共需支付600万美元损害赔偿金。
Meta和YouTube告诉CBS新闻，他们不同意这些判决，并计划提起上诉。
尽管这些案件的最终影响尚不确定，但专家表示，日益增加的法律和公众压力可能预示着公司在应用程序设计、内容推送以及平台安全功能整合方面将发生重大变化。这将是美国父母的胜利，大多数父母支持对子女使用社交媒体实施更严格的限制。
这些判决还可能为数千起类似案件（由个人原告、州总检察长和学区提起）的审理铺平道路。
“这是一个分水岭时刻，”消费者权益组织Public Citizen的人工智能治理与技术政策法律顾问J.B.布兰奇（J.B. Branch）表示，”这可能是打开美国民众一直寻求的问责之门的裂缝。”
专家称，这些裁决可能从几个方面重塑科技问责机制：
产品责任焦点
长期以来，互联网公司受1996年《通信规范法》第230条保护，该条款使它们免于因第三方在其平台上发布的内容而承担责任。
然而，洛杉矶案件中的律师采取了新策略，聚焦产品责任，辩称谷歌和Meta对平台的设计和运营导致了成瘾行为和伤害。
研究年轻人与科技关系的研究员德沃拉·海特纳（Devorah Heitner）在接受CBS新闻采访时表示：”这是首次有人因平台的设计和功能而非他人发布的内容，获得对这些公司的判决。”
法律专家预测，在洛杉矶审判表明这一法律理论获得陪审团认可后，针对社交媒体公司的产品责任案件将增加。
“我相信这是前进的方向，”社交媒体受害者法律中心创始人马修·伯格曼（Matthew Bergman）表示。伯格曼的律所代表凯莉提起诉讼，并已代表1500个家庭提起其他诉讼，这些家庭称他们以某种方式受到社交媒体的负面影响。
对人工智能的更深入审查
除了社交媒体平台，本周的判决还可能将大型科技公司开发的人工智能工具置于显微镜下，尤其是如果产品责任主张获得支持。
过去几年，OpenAI和Anthropic等公司以闪电般的速度推出了人工智能聊天机器人。但一些人认为，为抢占市场而匆忙推出产品牺牲了安全性。多个家庭已提起诉讼，指控人工智能聊天机器人对其亲人的自杀负有责任或起了作用。
阿克伦大学法学院助理教授杰斯·迈尔斯（Jess Miers）在电子邮件中告诉CBS新闻：”我们确实处于互联网法诉讼的新时代。我们可以且应该期望，针对在线服务（现在包括生成式AI公司）的大多数案件将是产品责任案件。”
诉讼数量增加
字节跳动、谷歌、Snap和Meta正面临数千起其他诉讼，指控其平台造成伤害，其中包括数十个州总检察长提起的诉讼。个人原告和学区也对科技巨头提起了诉讼。
由于数千个家庭提起类似诉讼，凯莉（KGM）和其他少数原告已被选为领头案件（bellwether trials）——即双方在陪审团面前测试其论点效果的试验性案件，最终可能导致类似大烟草和阿片类药物诉讼案的广泛和解。
伯格曼表示，在加州州立法院和联邦法院合并的一组案件”目前正在等待这些领头案件的结果，以确定是否有协商解决的途径，或者是否需要进行审判。”
伯格曼称，除了影响现有案件的审理外，这些判决还可能鼓励更多儿童及其父母站出来，为针对大型科技公司的更多诉讼打开大门。
“我认为，尽管子女受到伤害，仍有许多家庭不敢对抗大型科技公司，”他说，”我们希望并预期这一判决将减轻他们的顾虑，鼓励他们寻求与子女因其他危险产品受伤时相同的问责。”
社交媒体平台变革
作为洛杉矶审判的一部分，Meta和YouTube被裁定支付损害赔偿金，但未被要求对其平台进行任何具体调整。然而，法律专家表示，这一裁决可能迫使社交媒体公司重新考虑其应用程序设计和内容推送方式，以避免未来的责任。
无党派美国企业研究所技术政策研究非居住高级研究员克莱·卡尔弗特（Clay Calvert）表示，如果这些案件在上诉中得以维持，且其他有利于原告的判决跟进，压力只会增加。
专家告诉CBS新闻，这些变化可能颠覆应用程序的一些核心组件，包括决定用户看到哪些内容的算法。公司还可能限制屏幕使用时间，向使用应用程序的儿童及其父母发出警告，并实施更严格的年龄验证规则。
“这些审判可能会导致无限滚动功能和算法的改变，这对所有人来说都可能发生，”海特纳说。
—Emily Pandise报道
编辑：Aimee Picchi
美联社对本报道有贡献。
Why this week’s social media verdicts could finally hold tech giants to account
2026-03-26 / 3:44 PM EDT / CBS News
Back-to-back verdicts this week against Meta and YouTube could usher in a new chapter in accountability for tech companies, while opening the door to fresh legal challenges, experts tell CBS News.
Two cases, decided in New Mexico and California, are the first to hold social media companies liable for harming young people.
On Tuesday, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties for failing to protect young users from predators and misleading them about the safety of its apps.
In a separate verdict issued Wednesday in Los Angeles, a jury ruled that Meta and YouTube were negligent in how they designed and operated their platforms, resulting in mental health harm to the plaintiff, a 20-year-old named Kaley, or “KGM.” Jurors in that case ordered the companies to pay a total of $6 million in damages.
Meta and YouTube told CBS News they disagree with the verdicts and are planning to appeal.
While the ultimate impact of these cases remains uncertain, experts say the mounting legal and public pressure could portend major changes in how companies design their apps, deliver content and integrate safety features into their platforms. That would mark a victory for American parents, a majority of whom support stricter restrictions on their children’s social media use.
The verdicts could also set the stage for how thousands of similar cases — brought by individual plaintiffs, state attorneys general and school districts — play out.
“This is a watershed moment,” said J.B. Branch, the AI governance and technology policy counsel at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization. “This is the crack that could potentially open the floodgates to some accountability that Americans have been looking for.”
These rulings could reshape tech accountability in several ways, experts say.
A focus on product liability
Internet companies have long been protected by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which shields them from liability for third-party content posted on their platforms.
However, lawyers in the Los Angeles case took a new tack by focusing on product liability, arguing that Google and Meta’s design and operation of their platforms caused addictive behavior and harm.
“This is the first time that anyone has won a judgment against these companies for the very design and the features, as opposed to what other people post,” Devorah Heitner, a researcher who studies young people’s relationship with technology, told CBS News in an interview.
Legal experts anticipate an increase in product liability cases against social media companies after the Los Angeles trial showed that the legal theory resonated with the jury.
“I believe this is the path forward,” said Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center. Bergman’s firm represented Kaley and has filed 1,500 other cases on behalf of families who say they were adversely impacted by social media in some way.
Deeper scrutiny on AI
In addition to social media platforms, this week’s verdicts could also put artificial intelligence tools developed by big tech companies under the microscope, especially if product liability arguments gain traction.
Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have rolled out AI-powered chatbots at lightning speed in the last few years. But some argue that the rush to get into the market has come at the expense of safety. Multiple families have filed lawsuits alleging that AI chatbots were responsible, or played a role, in their loved ones’ suicides.
“We are indeed in a new era of Internet law litigation,” Jess Miers, an assistant professor at the University of Akron School of Law, told CBS News in an email. “We can and should expect the majority of cases against online services (and now generative AI companies) to be product liability cases.”
An increase in lawsuits
ByteDance, Google, Snap and Meta are facing thousands of other lawsuits alleging that their platforms caused harm, including from dozens of state attorneys general. Individual plaintiffs and school districts have also filed litigation against the tech giants.
Because thousands of families have filed similar lawsuits, KGM and a handful of other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury, eventually leading to a broader settlement reminiscent of the Big Tobacco and opioid trials.
Bergman said a group of cases that have been consolidated in California state and at the federal level are “currently awaiting outcomes of these bellwethers to determine whether there’s a path to a negotiated resolution, or whether trial is in the works.”
In addition to influencing the body of existing cases, Bergman said these verdicts could embolden more children and their parents to come forward, opening the door to more litigation against big tech companies.
“I think there are many families that have been afraid to take on big tech despite the injuries that their children have sustained,” he said. “It is our hope and expectation that this verdict will assuage their reluctance and encourage them to seek the same kind of accountability that they would seek if their child were injured by any other dangerous product.”
Changes to social media platforms
As part of the Los Angeles trial, Meta and YouTube were ordered to pay damages, but were not required to make any specific changes to their platforms. However, legal experts say the decision could compel social media companies to reconsider their app designs and how they deliver content in order to insulate themselves against future liability.
Clay Calvert, nonresident senior fellow in technology policy studies at the nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute, said he expects the pressure will only mount if the cases are held up on appeal and if other pro-plaintiff verdicts follow.
The changes could uproot some of the central components of apps, including the algorithms that decide what types of content users see in their feeds, experts tell CBS News. Companies could also move to limit screen time, provide warnings to children who use the apps as well as their parents and introduce stricter age verification rules.
“These trials are likely to result in changes to endless scroll and changes to the algorithm, potentially for everyone,” Heitner said.
—With reporting by Emily Pandise.
Edited by Aimee Picchi
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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