Darryl Singer, Lawyer, Partner

Darryl has almost 25 years of trial experience, having graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1991 and being called to the Bar in Ontario in 1993. Learn more

Apr 15, 2026 | See all posts

What Recent U.S. Social Media Verdicts Mean for Canadians Harmed by Big Tech

In the span of a single week this past March, two American juries delivered verdicts that could reshape how courts across North America treat social media companies. A Los Angeles County jury found that Meta and YouTube harmed a young user by designing products that were addictive and damaging to mental health, ordering the companies to pay $4.2 million and $1.8 million, respectively. Days later, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company had misled users about platform safety and enabled the sexual exploitation of minors.

For Diamond and Diamond partner Darryl Singer, the decisions are a long-overdue recognition of what victims and plaintiffs’ counsel have been saying for years. In a recent National Magazine article on social media’s evolving standard of care, Darryl said the U.S. rulings give credence to claims that platforms have caused real, measurable harm — and that they will make it “very, very difficult for the social media companies to defend the class actions and the mass torts that have arisen across Canada and the U.S., including ours.”

Why these verdicts matter north of the border

Canadian courts don’t apply U.S. decisions automatically, but American cases can still be highly persuasive — especially when the underlying facts and the products at issue are identical. The algorithms that Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube deploy in Toronto are the same ones they deploy in Los Angeles. The design features alleged to cause compulsive use, sleep disruption, anxiety, and exposure to harmful content don’t change at the border.

Darryl told National Magazine that while it is unusual for a Canadian case to lean on U.S. precedent, he intends to draw directly on the Los Angeles County decision in the class action Diamond and Diamond is assembling — including, where appropriate, some of the same expert evidence.

A shift in how courts view platform design

Earlier cases against social media platforms often stalled on the question of whether a company could be held responsible for what its users posted. The recent U.S. verdicts took a different route: rather than focusing on user-generated content, they examined how the platforms were engineered to distribute and amplify that content, and how those design choices affected young users. That framing matters for Canadian litigation too. It moves the conversation from “what did a user say?” to “what did the company build, and what did it know?”

What it means for Canadian families

Diamond and Diamond is putting together a class action for young people in Canada whose mental health has been affected by social media use. If your child has experienced anxiety, depression, disordered eating, self-harm, or other mental health effects tied to heavy social media use, you may have a claim.

The U.S. verdicts are not the last word, and Canadian courts will reach their own conclusions on their own record. But the direction of travel is increasingly clear: platforms are going to have to answer for the products they build, not just the content they host.

If you or a family member has been affected, contact the team of personal injury lawyers at Diamond and Diamond to discuss your options. Consultations are confidential and there is no cost to speak with our team.