Attorneys representing four states argued that Meta (META) developed its products to hook young users on its platforms and harvested the data of children under 13 to its benefit in the latest social media addiction trial on Tuesday.
The case, which is being heard before District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland, involves the attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey and is a test case for a larger suit involving an additional 24 states.
In her opening remarks, deputy attorney general for California Megan O’Neill painted a picture of a company that works to keep young users coming back to its apps, using features such as infinite scrolling, negatively impacting their mental health. She also alleged that the company knowingly harvested the information of children under the age of 13 without their parents’ consent.
She further claimed that while Meta said it prioritized the safety of kids on its services, it was in reality hiding the truth about the dangers Instagram and Facebook pose to young users.
“Meta hid its own research showing how often kids have bad, even traumatic, experiences on the apps. Meta hid…[how kids] couldn’t get off the apps, even when they tried, even when they knew that it was bad,” O’Neill said.
But Meta’s lawyer Paul Schmidt rejected those claims, pointing to a series of studies Meta conducted over the years related to teens’ experiences on the apps.
In one instance, he pointed to a study indicating 20% of teens reported feeling worse after using Instagram. While the states say it proves Meta knew its products were harmful to younger users, Schmidt argued that it instead showed that the company was working to find ways to help those teens and improve its platform.
“This is what they are trying to do in their job. How can we figure this out…one in five teens are telling us that Instagram makes them feel worse about themselves. What can we do to support teens in this space?”
He also dismissed the idea that Meta hooks under-13 users and harvests their data, saying the company deleted 1.4 million under-13 user accounts over four years when it detected them.
As for keeping kids under 13 off of Meta’s apps, Schmidt explained that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has proposed a number of remedies, including requiring app stores to perform age checks to ensure young users can’t download apps they shouldn’t.
In a statement ahead of the start of the trial, Meta said, “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. We stand by our record of creating strong protections for teens, and look forward to making our case in court.”
