Young Plaintiff Testifies in Landmark Trial to Determine If Social Media Tries to Addict Youths

The young woman known as K.G.M. gives a face to a generational mental health crisis that has accompanied the rise of social media.

Plaintiff Kaley G.M. arrives to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming children's mental health through addictive platforms in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2026. Mike Blake/Reuters

LOS ANGELES—A 20-year-old California woman at the center of a landmark tech trial took the stand for the first time on Feb. 26 in a case to determine whether social media companies engineered their products to addict young users despite known harms.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents as “K.G.M.” or “Kaley G.M.,” said she became addicted to social media as a child and suffered serious harms as a result, including depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal ideation.