LA Judge Demotes Key Social Media Case Lawyer for Tech Missteps

A prominent plaintiff’s attorney in the social media addiction trial unfolding in Los Angeles lost his leadership role Friday after twice breaking the court’s rules on technology use in the building.

Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl removed Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman from the plaintiffs’ steering committee following reports that he conducted a Zoom interview with the BBC from the first floor of the courthouse, where recording is prohibited. The interview was Wednesday, the day Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand during a landmark trial over social media addiction.

Bergman said the day was “so emotionally overcoming” that he “lost sight of my obligation as an officer of this court.”

Bergman and his Seattle-based team are counsel of record for the plaintiff, identified in court filings by her initials K.G.M., whose case against Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube is on trial in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County. Another attorney from the law center, Laura Marquez-Garrett, remains on the team directing hundreds of lawsuits in LA state court against the two companies, as well as TikTok Inc. and Snap Inc., which reached a confidential settlement before trial in K.G.M.s case.

Bergman’s behavior is another disruption in a case that has already experienced delays, Kuhl said. The attorney was already facing a citation for taking a picture on his phone in the courtroom, with a contempt hearing related to the photo set for March 23. Courthouse flooding and a Meta attorney’s head injury stalled the trial earlier.

“The things you’re doing are threatening to impede your clients’ pursuit of their claims,” Kuhl said.

20-year-old K.G.M., who was a minor when her lawsuit was filed, alleges her years of addiction to Instagram and YouTube caused her anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia. The social media companies deny wrongdoing and say they’ve imposed robust safety measures for young users. They could face billions of dollars in liabilities and have to overhaul their platforms if juries side against them in early “bellwether” trials.

The thought of snagging proceedings “is something for which I am deeply ashamed, and I hope that this can be a learning experience for me and I hope that this will be an opportunity for me to reflect deeper on how this situation arose, and become a better lawyer and a better person in the future” Bergman said to Kuhl in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County Friday, accepting the sanction.

“In a case about tech accountability, the fact that I was not accountable on tech issues in this court is resonant, it is humbling, and I am deeply sorry,” Bergman said.

The case is Social Media Cases JCCP, Cal. Super. Ct., No. 5255, 2/20/26.