Diana Novak Jones
A coalition of US states suing Meta Platforms over claims Facebook and Instagram were designed in ways that harmed young users’ mental health began making its case in a California federal court, in a trial that could reshape some of the most popular apps on the planet.
Megan O’Neill, a deputy California attorney general, told the eight-person jury in Oakland, California on Tuesday (US time) that Meta’s business model was to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public”.
“It worked especially well for kids,” she added.
O’Neill told the jury the case was not about taking away Instagram, or social media.
“This case is not about whether social media has some benefits for some people. It does,” she said.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are leading a bipartisan group of 29 states suing Meta.
Jurors are expected to issue an advisory verdict, but US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine Meta’s liability. If she finds Meta liable, Rogers could impose civil penalties and order changes to Facebook and Instagram.
The trial will address claims by the four lead states that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to addict young children and teenagers, resulting in such harms as anxiety, depression and even suicide, and misled consumers about the platforms’ safety.
“Meta needed kids, and it needed to reassure the people who cared about those kids that the kids are safe,” O’Neill said.
Jurors will also hear claims by all 29 states that Meta violated federal law by improperly collecting and using personal data of children while they used its platforms.
Lawyers for Meta are expected to tell the jury that the company has made a huge effort to keep kids safe online. Meta has said it did not make misleading statements about safety, and the states failed to show their residents were harmed.
Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri are expected to testify. The trial is scheduled to last six weeks.
Experts have said the trial is the biggest legal test yet of social media’s effects on young users, and comes amid a broader reckoning across the globe over those effects.
Meta has said penalties could be as high as $US1.4 trillion ($1.97 trillion), close to the Menlo Park, California-based company’s market value.
Attorneys general have yet to specify penalties but said at a hearing last week the amount could be closer to $US200 billion – equivalent to about three years of after-tax profit for Meta.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey also want Meta to implement age restrictions, eliminate the infinite scroll that encourages users to keep looking at new posts, and make other changes to its platforms.
In a statement before the trial, a Meta spokesperson said the states’ claims are unsubstantiated and the company stands by its record of creating strong protections for teenagers.
“The AGs offer no proof anyone in their states was misled, claim benign features like having an additional Instagram account somehow harmed their residents, and attempt to penalise Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification,” the spokesperson said. “Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout.”
The lawsuit began in 2023 and stemmed from a multistate investigation into Instagram and Facebook’s impact on young users.
That followed testimony by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who told a U.S. Senate committee in 2021 that Meta knew its products could harm young users and knew how to make them safer, but chose not to make changes in favour of pursuing higher profits.
The states are expected to present a trove of internal documents and research from Meta, and testimony from former Meta employees and experts.
Meta and other social media companies including Snap Inc, TikTok parent ByteDance and YouTube parent Alphabet face thousands of lawsuits by states, municipalities, school districts and individuals over whether their products harm young users.
In March, a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and Google to pay $US6 million to a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube media as a child.
Earlier this month, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $US567 million into a mental health fund for teenagers after that state’s attorney general said the company’s platforms were a public nuisance.
Reuters
