Meta Platforms is under fire for allegedly creating an environment that fosters addiction among children on its platforms, Facebook and Instagram. This claim was made by a California prosecutor as a significant legal case commenced that could have profound implications for the widely used applications, according to reports.
A coalition of 29 U.S. states has filed a lawsuit against Meta, seeking damages potentially amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars, alongside demands for operational changes regarding how Meta manages its platforms.
Leading the legal action are four states: California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey. They accuse Meta of engineering Facebook and Instagram to hook young users, exacerbating issues such as anxiety, depression, and even leading to suicides, while misleading the public about the safety of these platforms.
The jury will hear claims from the 29 states that Meta violated federal law by improperly collecting and using children’s personal data while they engaged with its platforms.
Megan O’Neill, California’s deputy attorney general, told the jury of eight in Oakland that Meta’s business model revolved around making users dependent on its platforms, retaining their attention for extended periods, harvesting their data, and concealing the truth from the public.
“It worked especially well with children,” she added. “Meta needed children and had to assure those who cared about them that they were safe.”
The jury is expected to render an advisory verdict, but it will be up to federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to hold Meta accountable.
If found liable, the judge could impose civil penalties and mandate changes to Facebook and Instagram’s operations. Meta’s legal team is anticipated to argue in court that the company has made substantial efforts to safeguard children online. Meta has maintained that it has not made misleading safety claims and that states have failed to prove any harm to their residents.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta, along with Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, are likely to testify during this six-week trial.
The Biggest Test Yet
Experts suggest this trial represents the most significant legal examination of social media’s effects on young users to date, occurring alongside a broader global reassessment of these impacts.
Meta has stated that penalties could soar to $1.4 trillion, a figure that closely mirrors the market value of the company based in Menlo Park, California.
While prosecutors have not disclosed an exact amount for potential penalties, they indicated in a recent hearing that the figure could approach $200 billion, equivalent to about three years of after-tax profits for Meta.
California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are also advocating for Meta to enforce age restrictions and eliminate the endless scroll feature, which encourages users to continue viewing new posts.
O’Neill emphasized that the states do not seek to erase Meta or social networks from the market. “This case does not question whether social media has certain benefits for some people. It does,” she stated.
However, O’Neill asserted that Meta has exploited children for its own gain, detailing how the company has researched how children’s brains function and how they respond to online stimuli, while tracking every interaction children have within its apps.
She presented jurors with an internal email sent to Mosseri, which noted that “time spent by teenagers” was a primary goal for the company and indicated that Meta employees viewed Instagram as a “drug,” and themselves as “dealers.”
“Meta found that the younger a child is when they start using the app, the better it is for them,” O’Neill stated. “The more likely they are to remain users, the more likely Meta is to profit in the long run.”
Critics in Court
In a statement prior to the trial, a Meta spokesperson claimed the states’ allegations are unfounded and that the company stands by its track record of implementing strong protections for teenagers.
“The attorneys general provide no evidence that anyone from their states was misled, claiming that harmless features, like having an additional Instagram account, have somehow harmed their residents, and are trying to penalize Meta for industry-wide challenges, such as age verification,” said the spokesperson. “Instead of relying on facts or law, the states have chosen to pursue exorbitant damages.”
Some of Meta’s critics spoke out in court at the trial’s outset.
Among them was Mary Rodee, whose 15-year-old son, Riley Basford, became a victim of a sexual predator on Facebook before committing suicide in 2021. “They call it spontaneous suicide,” she said. “I call it what it actually was: a predictable outcome of a system that protects corporations instead of children.”
This trial began in 2023, two years after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before a U.S. Senate committee, stating that Meta was aware its products were unsafe for children and knew how to address the issue but chose not to act, prioritizing higher profits instead.
Meta and other social media companies, including Snap Inc., ByteDance (the parent company of TikTok), and Alphabet (the parent company of YouTube), are facing thousands of lawsuits from states, municipalities, school districts, and individuals, accusing them of causing harm to young users.
Children using social media. Stock image. PHOTO: © Rol Mat | Dreamstime.com
