Meta has been hit with successive losses in court over how its platforms have targeted and harmed young users, but a jury trial set to begin on Tuesday may pose the biggest threat yet to its operations.
The trial stems from a lawsuit filed in 2023 by 30 US states, including California and New York, in which they claim numerous violations of federal and state privacy laws for children.
Not only are the states seeking upwards of $1 trillion, external from Meta, they are demanding it make changes to Instagram and Facebook, including ending “like” counts and infinite scroll.
Should Meta ultimately lose a case of this scale, it could force fundamental changes to the way young people experience social media.
One state attorney general described the case as “the largest consumer protection lawsuit in American history”.
“We’ll show a jury that Meta concealed what it knew about the harm its products cause young people because looking away was more profitable,” said Kentucky Attorney General (AG) Russell Coleman.
“AGs are in the perfect position to get this done. We did it with the Tobacco Settlement in the 1990s. We did it with the companies behind the opioid crisis. We’ll do it again with Meta.”
Kentucky and the other states suing Meta are asking for many more changes to the way Instagram and Facebook operate for young people, too.
They want Meta to:
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implement a process of parental verification for teenage users
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change its “dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms”
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remove many image filters that change one’s appearance in photos
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end autoplay of video content
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prohibit the creation of multiple accounts
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end disappearing or “ephemeral” posts, such as Instagram Stories
All of these features are central to the current user experience on Meta’s platforms.
These features are also designed to keep users, including teenagers and children, on the platforms as often and for as long as possible, the states contend. They claim Meta even makes it difficult for young people to use the platform less, through things like frequent notifications designed to get young people back on the apps.
By allegedly targeting child users, Meta “chose to exploit” young people in order to hook them on its platforms, so it could grow its user base and expand its business. Today, Meta’s value on the stock market is about $1.5tn.
Meta has consistently denied such claims.
“We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
The states are putting their claims to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a chief federal judge in California. She was the judge in the high-profile Elon Musk v Sam Altman trial and has built a reputation from the bench over the course of nearly 20 years for being incisive and direct.
