Opening statements in Meta's latest social media addiction trial begin
Opening statements begin Tuesday in a landmark case against Meta, the social media company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Thirty-three state attorneys general have accused Meta of designing a dangerous product for young users, claiming Meta knew it was dangerous and lied about it.
The trial will take place in federal court in Oakland, California, and is expected to last about six to seven weeks.
The lawsuit claims "Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens” through features such as infinite scrolling and push notifications, and designed them to keep young users engaged on their apps and sites for as long as possible, harming users’ mental health in the process.
The state attorneys general also claim that Meta allegedly violated a federal online privacy law by "unlawfully collecting the personal data of its youngest users without their parents’ permission."
Meta has responded by saying these claims are unsubstantiated and the lawsuit is an "attempt to penalize" the company for industry-wide challenges. Meta also said the financial demand of $1.4 trillion in damages is "vastly disproportionate."
"The State AGs may call this a landmark case, but their limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "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 penalize Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification. Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout. We stand by our record of creating strong protections for teens, and look forward to making our case in court."
This latest trial comes nearly two weeks after Meta lost another case brought against the company by the New Mexico attorney general. A judge said Meta contributed to a youth mental health crisis and ordered the company to pay $567 million and make changes to its apps. Meta said it would appeal the ruling.
In March, a jury found Meta and Google's YouTube negligent for designing apps that harmed a now 20-year-old defendant in another trial that took place in Los Angeles. Both Meta and Google said they would appeal the ruling.
Meta and other social media companies are facing thousands of lawsuits over child and teen safety across its platforms. The company also reported a rare decline in profits last month.
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