CECILIA KANG2026年3月26日这些诉讼首次将矛头直指社交媒体公司，追究其制造有害产品的责任，使其面临新的法律问责。 David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOn Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury held Meta and YouTube liable for claims their platforms are addictive and have harmed young users, and ordered them to pay a combined $6 million in damages.周三，洛杉矶的一个陪审团裁定，Meta和YouTube应对它们的平台具有成瘾性并伤害年轻用户的指控承担责任，并责令两家公司合计赔偿600万美元。The verdict was the first in a series of trials expected this year in which plaintiffs’ lawyers are testing a novel legal theory claiming that Meta, YouTube, Snap and TikTok caused personal injury through defective products.该判决是今年一系列审判中的首个结果，原告律师在这些审判中正在测试一种新的法律理论，即Meta、YouTube、Snap和TikTok因其有缺陷的产品造成了人身伤害。Thousands of individuals, school districts and state attorneys general have filed similar lawsuits. This week’s win could open the door to an avalanche of similar claims.数以千计的个人、学区以及州检察长已经提起类似诉讼。本周的这一胜诉可能为大量类似索赔打开大门。Here’s what to know.以下是需要了解的情况。What are the cases about?这些案件主要涉及什么？These cases test the argument that social media was built to be addictive, like cigarettes or casino slot machines.这些案件试图论证，社交媒体的设计本身就带有成瘾性，就像香烟或老虎机一样。The lawsuits claim that social media features like infinite scrolling, algorithmic recommendations, notifications and videos that play automatically lead to compulsive use. The plaintiffs contend that the resulting addiction has led to problems like depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self-harm, including suicide.这些诉讼称，无限滚动、算法推荐、通知提醒以及自动播放的视频等社交媒体功能导致了强迫性使用。原告认为，由此产生的成瘾已经引发了抑郁、焦虑、饮食失调以及包括自杀在内的自残行为等问题。The cases have drawn comparisons to those against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, when companies like Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds were accused of hiding information about the harms of cigarettes.这些案件被拿来与上世纪90年代针对烟草巨头的诉讼相提并论，当时菲利普莫里斯和雷诺烟草等公司被指控隐瞒了香烟危害的相关信息。What was the first lawsuit about?第一起诉讼是什么案件？The first plaintiff was a 20-year-old woman from California identified as K.G.M. in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County.首位原告是一名来自加州的20岁女性，在洛杉矶县高等法院的诉讼文件中被称为K.G.M.。K.G.M. created a YouTube account at age 8, then joined Instagram, which is owned by Meta, at 9. In her lawsuit, she claimed she became addicted to the social media sites as a child and experienced anxiety, depression and body-image issues as a result.K.G.M.在八岁时创建了一个YouTube账户，九岁时又加入了Meta旗下的Instagram。她在诉讼中称，自己从小就对这些社交媒体网站成瘾，并因此经历了焦虑、抑郁和身材焦虑问题。K.G.M.’s lawyer said during opening statements that Instagram and YouTube’s apps were built like “digital casinos” that profited off addictive behavior.K.G.M.的律师在开庭陈述中表示，Instagram和YouTube的应用被设计成类似“数字赌场”，通过用户的成瘾行为获利。The trial lasted five weeks, and jurors deliberated for more than a week.该审判持续了五周，陪审团审议了超过一周时间。On Wednesday, all but two of the jurors determined that Meta and YouTube were negligent in designing their platforms, and that their products harmed K.G.M.周三，除两名陪审员外，其余陪审员均裁定Meta和YouTube在平台设计上存在疏忽，其产品对K.G.M.造成了伤害。More trials will follow?还会有更多审判吗？Yes, judges have bundled some of the strongest cases among the thousands of suits that were filed to act as bellwethers. A total of nine cases are expected to be heard in the series of trials in Los Angeles, including K.G.M.’s.会的。法官已从数千起已提起的诉讼中挑选出一些最有代表性的案件，作为标杆案件进行审理。预计在洛杉矶的这一系列审判中将审理共九起案件，其中就包括K.G.M.的案件。This summer, a separate set of federal cases will go to trial in Oakland, Calif., at the U.S. District Court of Northern California. In that series of cases, school districts and states plan to argue that social media is a public nuisance and that they have had to shoulder the costs of treating a generation of youths suffering from addictive social media use.今年夏天，另一组联邦案件将在加利福尼亚州奥克兰的美国北加州联邦地区法院开庭审理。在这一系列案件中，学区和各州计划提出社交媒体构成了公害，而学区和州政府不得不承担治疗一代因沉迷社交媒体而受害的年轻人的费用。In another case, a New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta liable for violating state law by failing to safeguard users of its apps from child predators, in a case brought by the state attorney general.在另一起由新墨西哥州总检察长提起的案件中，该州的一个陪审团周二裁定，Meta因未能保护应用程序的用户免受儿童性侵犯者的侵害，违反了州法律，应承担相应责任。How are the companies defending themselves?这些公司是如何为自己辩护的？Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube, which is owned by Google, all argue that there is no clear scientific link between tech use and addiction and insist there needs to be strong proof that their products significantly harmed young users.Meta、Snap、TikTok以及谷歌旗下的YouTube均辩称，目前尚无明确的科学证据表明科技产品的使用与成瘾之间存在关联，并强调必须要有确凿证据证明它们的产品对年轻用户造成了显著伤害。The social media companies have cited a federal shield law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, that protects them from liability for what their users post online.这些社交媒体公司援引了一项联邦保护性法律——1996年《通信规范法》第230条，该条款使其无需对用户在平台上发布的内容承担责任。Snap, which owns Snapchat, and TikTok reached settlements with K.G.M. for undisclosed amounts.旗下拥有Snapchat的Snap公司以及TikTok已与K.G.M.达成和解，具体金额未披露。Meta said during K.G.M.’s trial that her health issues were caused by familial abuse and turmoil. The company presented medical records to show that social media addiction was not a focus of her therapy sessions.Meta在K.G.M.的庭审中表示，她的健康问题源于家庭中的虐待和动荡。该公司出示的医疗记录显示，社交媒体成瘾并非她治疗过程中的重点。Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, defended the company during the trial. The executives rejected claims that Instagram could be described as “clinically” addictive.Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格和Instagram负责人亚当·莫塞里在庭审中为公司辩护。两位高管均否认Instagram可以被描述为“临床意义上的”成瘾性产品。YouTube said that it was not a social media company and that its features were not designed to be addictive.YouTube则表示，自己并非一家社交媒体公司，其功能也并非为让人上瘾而设计。Both companies said Wednesday they were disappointed with the verdict. Meta said it was examining its legal options, and YouTube said it plans to appeal.两家公司周三均表示对判决结果感到失望。Meta称正在评估法律应对选项，YouTube则表示计划提出上诉。What’s at stake?此案有哪些重大影响？The plaintiffs are asking for monetary damages and potential design changes to the platforms to prevent addictive behavior.原告正在要求赔偿，并可能推动平台进行设计上的改变，以防止成瘾行为。In K.G.M.’s trial, Meta must pay $4.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages, and YouTube must pay $1.8 million.在K.G.M.一案中，Meta须支付总计420万美元的补偿性赔偿和惩罚性赔偿，YouTube则须支付180万美元。In New Mexico, the jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million. The state attorney general, Raúl Torrez, said he will ask for additional damages and changes to the design of the platform.在新墨西哥州的案件中，陪审团判令Meta支付3.75亿美元。该州总检察长劳尔·托雷兹表示，他还将寻求更多赔偿，并要求对平台设计进行调整。While those amounts are drops in the bucket for the companies, which bring in billions in revenue, the losses are significant as global attitudes shift against social media companies. And the wins open the door to millions of other claims by social media users.虽然这些金额对这些年收入数十亿美元的公司来说只是九牛一毛，但鉴于全球舆论风向正转向对社交媒体公司不利，这些败诉的象征意义重大。原告的胜诉也为社交媒体用户提出数以百万计的其他索赔打开了大门。If the companies are forced to make changes to their products, it could harm their broader business models.如果这些公司被迫对其产品作出改变，可能会对其整体商业模式造成冲击。Cecilia Kang是《纽约时报》驻华盛顿的科技和监管政策记者。她从事科技报道已有20余年。翻译：杜然点击查看本文英文版。获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site