Meta Platforms squared off against a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a California federal courtroom on Wednesday, with jury selection kicking off in a case accusing the company of deliberately making Facebook and Instagram addictive to minors and unlawfully harvesting their data, according to Reuters.
The trial in Oakland is expected to last seven weeks, with opening statements scheduled for August 18. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify, as is Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
The states are seeking damages that Meta has estimated could reach $1.4 trillion — close to the company’s market cap of $1.5 trillion — though the attorneys general have not publicly disclosed the amount they plan to seek. Colorado, Kentucky, California, and New Jersey are also asking U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to order Meta to implement age restrictions, eliminate infinite scroll, delete algorithms and AI models built with children’s data, and alter its content recommendation algorithm to prioritize well-being over engagement.
A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the allegations and was confident the evidence would demonstrate its commitment to supporting young people. “We’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Legal experts have described the stakes as severe. Eric Goldman, who teaches at Santa Clara University School of Law and co-directs its High Tech Law Institute, put the risk in stark terms: “Big damage awards and judicial dictates about features both potentially pose existential threats to social media defendants,” he told Reuters.
The case stems from a multistate investigation into Facebook and Instagram’s effects on young users, which was announced following disclosures by Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen, who told a U.S. Senate committee in 2021 that Meta was aware its platforms posed risks to young users yet declined to take corrective action. The trial addresses both federal claims — centered on alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act — and state consumer protection allegations brought by four states. A second trial involving 14 additional states pursuing claims under their individual state laws is scheduled for February.
Rogers opted for an advisory jury, an uncommon procedural tool through which jurors deliver opinions on designated questions that inform the judge’s ultimate decision, which she may reach independently of those opinions.
On Monday, Meta’s eleventh-hour attempt to postpone the trial came up short when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned away the company’s appeal, ruling that Meta had sought appellate review before the lower court had finished its work.
The trial is one of more than 3,000 federal lawsuits filed against Meta, Snap, YouTube parent Alphabet, and TikTok parent ByteDance centralized before Rogers. Meta has absorbed a string of recent losses in related litigation, including a New Mexico judge’s order last week that the company pay $942 million in total damages and make changes to its platforms after a two-phase trial.
