Big Tech Companies Must Pay Money

A court in Los Angeles made an important decision. It said that Meta and YouTube must pay money. Why? These companies made their social media apps very addictive. Young children spent too much time on them.

A young woman is now 23 years old. When she was a child, she used social media every day. She used Facebook and Instagram. She watched videos on YouTube for many hours.

The social media apps showed her many pictures. The pictures showed pretty girls and boys. She compared herself to these pictures. This made her feel very bad about herself. She became sad and worried. She did not like her body. She did not eat much. She was not happy.

The court said: "Meta and YouTube did this on purpose. They made the apps to keep children using them all day. They wanted more users. They wanted more money."

So the court made a decision. Meta must pay three million dollars. YouTube must pay nine hundred thousand dollars. That is six million dollars in total.

This is very important news. It tells big tech companies something important. They must be careful with children. They must not make addictive apps. Children need protection.