Social media giant Meta is heading to court in a case brought by a group of state attorneys general who claim the company designed its social media platforms to be addictive and misled the public about potential risks.
The trial is expected to begin with opening statements on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland after the two sides went through the jury selection process last week and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers turned down Meta's request for the case to be dismissed. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expected to testify.
Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey first filed the lawsuit in 2023 after a multistate investigation into the impact of Facebook and Instagram on young users. They argue that the platforms were designed to be addictive and that the company downplayed the potential impact on young people, while also alleging Meta violated federal law when it collected personal information from children.
Meta, which is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has denied wrongdoing and disputes claims that its social media platforms caused the harm alleged by states. It also argues that "social media addiction" isn't an officially recognized psychiatric diagnosis, which will be a significant point of contention at trial.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement last week after the court allowed the case to proceed, saying, "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."
A Meta spokesperson pushed back on the states' case against the company and said in a statement to FOX Business that the "limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate."
"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," the company spokesperson said, adding that the company stands by its "record of creating strong protections for teens, and look forward to making our case in court."
Ticker Security Last Change Change % META META PLATFORMS INC. 568.97 -20.88 -3.54%
Meta has argued that the damages sought by the state attorneys general could reach as high as $1.4 trillion, which is nearly the size of the company's market capitalization – though the AGs haven't disclosed the amount they plan to seek at trial and will likely do so once the trial begins.
Monte Mann, a partner at Armstrong Teasdale, told FOX Business in an interview that this will be a "bellwether case" for the theory that social media platforms were designed to be addictive and have harmful effects on young users.
Mann said that as someone who has tried cases like this one, he will be paying close attention to what internal Meta documents indicate about the company's knowledge of the allegedly compulsive nature of its products and their mental health impact, saying those documents "may be the star witness in the case."
"I will be very interested to see what the internal Meta, Facebook, Instagram documents say about what they knew of the compulsive nature of these products and services; when they knew it; whether they tried to enhance their design elements to take advantage of those things, what they disclosed to the public," he said.
Mann also noted that Judge Gonzalez Rogers appointed an advisory jury in the case, which can provide feedback and recommendations on community standards for children's use of social media that she may consider.
The Oakland trial is the latest high-profile case involving social media companies like Meta, which have faced numerous lawsuits brought by individuals, school districts and state governments over the alleged impacts of social media use on children.
A ruling in another prominent case was delivered earlier this month when a state court in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $567 million and to overhaul its protections for teen users on Facebook and Instagram.
That followed a prior ruling from March which ordered Meta to pay $375 million for violating state law, with the company's total liability in the case at nearly $942 million.
Meta told FOX Business after the most recent ruling that it disagreed with the decision and vowed to appeal, explaining that the company is "confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts."
FOX Business' Michael Sinkewicz, Sumner Park and Reuters contributed to this report.
