SACRAMENTO — California and other states seeking more than $1 trillion in penalties and new constraints on the parent company of Facebook and Instagram will go to court Wednesday over allegations the social media giant knowingly designed its sites to be addictive to minors.
The states seek to prove that Meta lied to the public about the safety of its products for children.
Meta has denied it violated the laws California and other states have cited, and argues the case is an illegal attempt by the government to police its platforms and punish it for users’ speech.
Jury selection is set to start in Oakland on Wednesday for a trial slated to take roughly two months. “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,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote in a statement. “We are ready to hold Meta accountable for its role in fueling the mental health crisis of American children and look forward to trial.”
Meta has vowed to appeal and continue fighting in court.
“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone posted on social media after the New Mexico ruling. “We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”
The California case also comes amid efforts in Sacramento to regulate teens’ and children’s social media use. A measure that would restrict use of social media by children under 16 has been moving through the state Legislature, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he supports the concept of limiting children’s social media use through state law.
In the case set to begin Wednesday, the attorneys general describe several features of Meta’s platforms, including appearance-altering filters, that were particularly harmful to young users. They allege Meta’s internal data showed that the company was aware of the harm, but continued to encourage children to use the features anyway.
The jury in the case is advisory, meaning its determinations will not be binding. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will decide the case.
The state attorneys general and Meta have indicated in court filings that they intend to call more than 50 potential witnesses, including Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Thousands of documents have been filed in court as part of the case. Some of the evidence in the case is under seal, but thousands of pages have been made public.
Meta has disputed the idea in court filings that social media addiction is real, noting that it does not appear as a specific psychiatric diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by medical professionals.
But in one unsealed exhibit, prosecutors cite an internal Meta presentation that states that “Instagram is addictive.” The quote comes from a 2019 presentation, titled “Teen Mental Health: Creatures of Habit.” The slides describe surveys of teens that found “they have an addicts’ narrative about their Instagram use,” in which they wished they could spend less time on the program but couldn’t.
