The sweeping legal proceedings could have profound consequences for the social media company. Photograph: Iryna Khabliuk/Alamy View image in fullscreen The sweeping legal proceedings could have profound consequences for the social media company. Photograph: Iryna Khabliuk/Alamy Meta US states take on Meta in pivotal trial over child social media addiction claims State attorneys general allege that tech company intentionally designed addictive products that harm young people
Prefer the Guardian on Google More than half of the states in the US have joined together in an unprecedented lawsuit against Meta that goes to trial on Tuesday, accusing the parent company of Instagram and Facebook of deliberately designing addictive products that lured in young people and caused them harm.
The jury trial is taking place in federal court in Oakland, California , and is expected to last between six and eight weeks. The jury is expected to hear from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg , Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and employee turned whistleblower Arturo Béjar .
“Meta designed a dangerous product for young users, knew it to be dangerous, and then lied to children, families and the community about how dangerous it was,” said Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general. The trial proceedings will be led by attorneys representing California , Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, though the suit was filed by all 29 states in what is known as multidistrict litigation.
Read more The 233-page lawsuit, first filed in October 2023, alleges that Meta regularly collects data on children under the age of 13 without parental permission in violation of federal and state laws. The lawmakers claim in court documents that Meta “refuses to abandon its use of known harmful features” and that its motives are based solely on profit to “maximize its financial gains”.
The sweeping legal proceedings could have profound consequences for the social media company. The attorneys general say that if Meta is found liable, damages could be as high as $200bn – an amount equivalent to the company’s 2025 annual revenue. The lawmakers are also asking that Meta be compelled to change the design of its products to make them safer for children , which may have longer-term effects than a fine.
Meta denies all allegations and says : “Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout.
“The State AGs may call this a landmark case, but their limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate,” the company 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.”
The attorneys general also say Meta “developed and refined a set of psychologically manipulative” features designed to maximize people’s time on its apps. Those include an infinite scrolling recommendation algorithm, constant notification alerts, thumbs-up “likes”, and visual filters for altering one’s image.
The lawmakers say young people are especially vulnerable to falling prey to such features and that excessive time online can lead to increased depression, anxiety, eating disorders and other mental health issues.
Internal research conducted by Meta is expected to be presented at the trial, including, for instance, a survey of 2,500 teens condu…