Meta faces landmark US trial over allegations it made Facebook and Instagram addictive to children

Meta Platforms rejected allegations by a coalition of 29 US states that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children, as a landmark trial over the impact of social media on young users began in federal court in California on Tuesday, according to a report by Reuters.

The trial, which opened in Oakland, centres on claims that Meta designed its platforms in ways that encouraged children and teenagers to spend excessive amounts of time on them, while failing to adequately protect them from harm.

Four states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — are leading the case on behalf of the bipartisan coalition of 29 states.

The states are seeking potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties, as well as changes to the way Meta operates Facebook and Instagram.

States accuse Meta of targeting young users

Lawyers for the four lead states told an eight-person jury that Meta's business model was built around attracting users, keeping them on its platforms for as long as possible and collecting their personal data.

Megan O'Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, told jurors that Meta sought to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public”, according to Reuters.

She said the strategy was particularly effective among children.

“Meta needed kids, and it needed to reassure the people who cared about those kids that the kids are safe,” O'Neill said.

The states allege that Facebook and Instagram contributed to problems including anxiety, depression and suicide among young users. They also accuse Meta of misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms.

All 29 states are pursuing separate claims that Meta violated federal law by improperly collecting and using children's personal data while they were using its platforms.

Meta denies deliberately making its platforms addictive

Meta's lawyer, Paul Schmidt, acknowledged that some social media users experience difficulties but rejected the states' claims that the company deliberately designed its products to be addictive.

“There is no dispute” that some users face struggles, Schmidt told jurors, while arguing that research did not establish a clear connection between adolescent social media use and a lack of wellbeing.

Schmidt also said Meta chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg shared the company's interest in improving its services rather than making them dangerous.

“They don't believe they're going to do well if people don't like their service,” he said.

In a statement before the trial, a Meta spokesperson said the states' allegations were unsupported.

The company said it had a record of creating protections for teenagers and argued that the attorneys general had not demonstrated that people in their states had been misled.

Meta also criticised the potential scale of the penalties being sought.

The company said the states were pursuing an “outlandish payout”, while maintaining that claims concerning age verification and other issues reflected challenges facing the wider industry.

Judge will determine Meta's liability

The eight-person jury is expected to issue an advisory verdict, while US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine whether Meta is liable.

If Rogers finds the company liable, she could impose civil penalties and order changes to Facebook and Instagram.

Meta has said the potential penalties could reach as much as US$1.4 trillion, an amount close to the company's market value.

State attorneys general said at a hearing last week that the eventual figure could be closer to US$200 billion, which Reuters reported would be equivalent to roughly three years of Meta's after-tax profit.

The four lead states are also seeking changes to Facebook and Instagram.

Among their proposals are age restrictions, the removal of infinite scrolling, time limits for younger users, the removal of likes and stronger measures to prevent children under 13 from accessing the platforms.

Former Meta safety engineer gives evidence

After the opening arguments, former Meta safety engineer Arturo Bejar began testifying as the states' first witness.

Bejar has previously alleged that Meta knew its child-safety tools were ineffective and has testified against the company in four trials.

Meta had sought to prevent Bejar from testifying, citing the deletion of Signal messages with former employees. Judge Rogers rejected the company's attempt to exclude him as a witness.

Bejar told jurors that “move fast and break things” was a mantra at Meta and accused the company of taking a “don't ask, don't tell” approach to determining whether children under 13 were using its services.

He said products including Reels, Meta's short-form video service, had been introduced without safety being adequately considered during their initial deployment.

“Many products were shipped into the world,” Bejar said, according to Reuters, adding that “safety was not a consideration in how it was initially deployed”.

Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri are also expected to testify during the trial.

The proceedings are scheduled to last six weeks.

Internal documents expected to feature

The states are expected to present internal Meta documents and research, alongside evidence from former employees and outside experts.

The case stems from a multistate investigation launched into the effects of Facebook and Instagram on young users.

That investigation followed testimony from Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen before a US Senate committee in 2021.

Haugen told lawmakers that Meta knew its products could harm young users and knew how to make them safer, but did not make the necessary changes because of its focus on profits.

The states are expected to rely on documents and testimony as they argue that Meta was aware of concerns surrounding young users but failed to make sufficient changes.

Wider legal pressure on social media companies

The trial is taking place as Meta and other major social media companies face thousands of lawsuits across the United States.

Snap, TikTok parent company ByteDance and YouTube parent company Alphabet are among the other companies facing claims from states, municipalities, school districts and individuals concerning the effects of their products on young users.

In March, a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and Google to pay US$6 million to a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube when she was a child.

Earlier in August, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay US$567 million into a fund addressing teenagers' mental health after the state's attorney general argued that the company's platforms constituted a public nuisance.

Tennessee's attorney general is also pursuing a separate case against Meta over similar allegations concerning Instagram. That case is being heard in Nashville.

Critics gather outside courthouse

Critics of Meta gathered outside the Oakland courthouse as the trial began.

Among them was Mary Rodee, whose 15-year-old son, Riley Basford, died by suicide in 2021 after being targeted by a predator on Facebook, according to Reuters.

“They call it spontaneous suicide,” Rodee said. “I call it what it was, the predictable outcome of a system that protects corporations instead of children.”

California's O'Neill said the states were not seeking to shut Meta down, acknowledging that social media had benefits for some users.

She nevertheless accused the company of exploiting children by studying how their brains respond to online stimuli and tracking their interactions on its platforms.

She referred to an internal email sent to Mosseri that described “teen time spent” as a goal and said some Meta employees had compared Instagram with a drug.

Schmidt said employees might use informal language in private communications but maintained that Meta's products were not addictive. He said jurors would hear evidence about steps taken by the employee who had described Instagram as a drug to improve its safety.