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A landmark $1 trillion lawsuit filed by 29 states against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was set to begin trial Tuesday in federal court in Oakland. The suit alleges that Meta’s platforms cause harm to children and violate child privacy laws.
Leading the case are California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, which claim Meta deliberately designed its apps to addict young users, resulting in significant mental health issues. All 29 states involved accuse Meta of breaching the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal data from users under 13 without obtaining parental consent.
The states contend that Meta misled users by promoting its apps as safe, while secretly fostering a mental health crisis among youth nationwide and breaking child privacy and consumer protection laws. Beyond seeking more than $1 trillion in damages, the lawsuit demands Meta implement changes to Instagram and Facebook, such as removing features like infinite scroll and “like” counters.
“Meta created a dangerous product for young users, knew the risks, and then lied to children, families, and the public about how harmful it was,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Meta denies these claims, asserting that it has put safeguards in place to protect young users and has been transparent with consumers.
Other requested changes include parental verification for teen users, eliminating addictive recommendation algorithms, and removing features that allow photo alterations, autoplay videos, and disappearing posts.
This trial follows a suit initially filed by 33 states in fall 2023, which accused Meta of engineering its platforms to hook children, permitting under-13 accounts, and failing to deactivate flagged underage profiles.
“We will show a jury that Meta hid the truth about the damage its products cause young people because ignoring the problem was more profitable,” said Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman. He compared the current case to historic multi-state actions against tobacco and opioid companies.
With potential liabilities nearing Meta’s $1.43 trillion market capitalization, the company’s stock dipped by over $5 per share ahead of Tuesday’s market open.
The trial begins shortly after a New Mexico state court ruled against Meta in a separate consumer protection case, ordering the company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for creating a public nuisance that harmed children. The court established a $567 million fund, with $420 million dedicated to treating social media-related harms to children in the state, following a prior $375 million fine earlier this year.
The 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, administered by the Federal Trade Commission, requires parental control over children’s online data. It mandates verifiable parental consent for data collection, use, or disclosure, access for parents to their child’s information, limits on unnecessary data collection, and reasonable measures to protect data confidentiality and security.