Attorneys general from 29 US states have opened a trial accusing Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram features that addict children, worsen their mental health and violate child privacy and consumer protection laws. The states say penalties could reach about $200 billion, while Meta has rejected the claims and pointed to its Teen Accounts protections.
Meta is on trial after attorneys general from 29 states told the court that penalties could total about $200 billion, though the final amount would depend on the court's findings and the remedies it orders. Filed in 2023, the trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.
States accuse Meta of designing addictive features
The states argue that Meta violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act as well as consumer protection statutes by building Facebook and Instagram to keep younger users engaged. They point to infinite scroll, autoplay and beauty filters as features they say were intentionally designed to hold teenagers' attention longer.
According to CNBC, California deputy attorney general Megan O'Neill told the court that Meta "carried out a campaign to deceive, to mislead its users, legislatures, teachers and parents." California attorney general Rob Bonta said after the first day of proceedings that the case centers on civil penalties, restitution and distortion rather than primarily on damages.
Meta has previously argued the case could expose it to as much as $1.4 trillion in penalties, a figure Bonta pushed back on. He noted that state attorneys general told the court last week that about $200 billion was a more likely figure, and said the larger sum was a Meta-produced estimate representing the highest possible number that could be calculated from the underlying data. The states are also seeking structural remedies: they want Meta to delete personal data collected from children under 13, along with related algorithms and models trained on that data, and to remove certain design features from its platforms.
Meta rejects the claims
Meta rejected the claims in full. Company attorney Paul Schmidt argued that the internal records and email exchanges presented by state lawyers had been stripped of context and selectively extracted from lengthier discussions, The Guardian reported.
Schmidt said Meta had carried out multiple studies focused on younger users and that the company has shut down more than one million accounts belonging to children younger than 13. A Meta spokesperson separately said the states' financial demands were disproportionate and that the AGs had offered no proof anyone in their states was misled.
The company has said it introduced Teen Accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, with default protections limiting who can contact teens and what content they see, and that 97% of Instagram users aged 13 to 15 had remained within those protections.
Part of a wider legal push
The trial adds to mounting legal pressure on Meta over child safety. It follows a recent New Mexico court fine of $567 million against the company and comes as state attorneys general pursue similar actions against other platforms, including TikTok, YouTube and Snap.
Source: Verdict
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