WASHINGTON (TNND) — Jury selection began on Tuesday in a first-of-its-kind social media case.

The lawsuit claims that social media companies may have borrowed behavioral techniques from gambling. This has caused their platforms to become addictive and harm young people.

But how do you prove they actually did that? Former federal prosecutor and president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers, Neama Rahmani, joined The National News Desk to discuss what's to come for the case.

Sitting here in downtown Los Angeles, about a mile away from the courthouse where this is all happening, and like you said, one of the big issues in this case is going to be causation," Rahmani said.

Central to the case is whether the apps are responsible for mental health issues, particularly in young users. Rahmani said it is going to be difficult for prosecutors to establish a cause between declining mental health for teenagers and social media use, as other factors are at play.

It could be their family. It could be their friend's school," Rahmani said.

The outcome of this bellwether trial could influence thousands of similar cases across the U.S. The trial's verdict could set a precedent for how tech companies address addiction claims in the future. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri are expected to testify in the trial.