Week one of the landmark federal child safety trial against Meta is over. Four states are alleging that Meta violated consumer and child data protection laws and hid the risks its platforms risk.
Transcript
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The first week of a landmark multistate trial against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has concluded. Inside the federal courthouse in Oakland, KQED’s Rachael Myrow watched this trial, one that could have existential consequences for the largest social media giant on the planet. Rachael Myrow joins us now. Hi, Rachael.
RACHAEL MYROW, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so just remind us what states are – what are they arguing in this case?
MYROW: There are four states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – and they say Meta knew Facebook and Instagram could hook kids. They allege Meta did that by designing features like infinite scroll that encouraged millions of children – including those under 13, who, by law, shouldn’t be on the platforms – to keep scrolling. Why? To sell more eyeballs to advertisers, even as the company told regulators and the American public that safety was Meta’s priority.
Now, California deputy AG Megan O’Neill summed up the state’s case in four words in her opening – hook, hold, harvest, hide. As in, hook the kids, hold onto them as they age, harvest their data and hide it all from the public. Also, this case is not about holding Meta accountable for bad people posting bad things on social media. The question here is, did Meta produce a faulty product knowing it would damage the mental health of children and then lie about it? To make that case, the states are using lots of internal company documents and research as well as calling Meta employees and whistleblowers to testify.
CHANG: OK, a lot of layers here. Meanwhile, the star witness this week was a whistleblower who also testified before a Senate judiciary subcommittee, right? Can you tell us more about him?
MYROW: Yes, That’s Arturo Bejar, who led Facebook’s Protect and Care team for six years, then came back as a consultant on Instagram’s wellbeing team. He testified that Meta did a lot of internal research to measure how Facebook and Instagram affected the mental health of children and teens. But Bejar also told the jury that some of Meta’s safety tools, like Instagram’s Take a Break feature, were, quote, “designed to fail” because the company made them optional. Quote, “Anything that is a setting that – is not an effective safety tool,” he testified, “it’s like you have to turn on the airbag every time you got into the car.”
CHANG: What about the other side here? How is Meta countering this framing?
MYROW: Meta’s attorneys argued the states have cherry-picked from internal research and documents to build an argument that mischaracterizes how the company has actually tried to do better for its users. Also, a Meta attorney got Bejar to acknowledge he respected the credibility of hundreds of people who work on safety research at Facebook and Instagram. And in opening arguments, attorney Paul Schmidt said that between 2020 and 2024, Meta disabled nearly 1 1/2 million accounts thought to be used by children under 13.
CHANG: All right, a lot happened in just this first week. This trial, it’s expected to continue through early October, right? So what should we be expecting next week?
MYROW: More expert testimony, starting with Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University. She testified that teen mental health took a sharp turn around 2010 when smartphone and social media use exploded and that studies show more hours a day – the more hours a day a teen spends on social media, the more likely they are to be depressed. Her testimony is expected to continue next week. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also on the state’s witness list, but we don’t know when exactly he’ll take the stand.
CHANG: That is Rachael Myrow, senior editor of the Silicon Valley news desk at member station KQED. Thank you, Rachael.
MYROW: Thank you.
CHANG: And a note, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a charity founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, is a financial supporter of NPR.
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