Meta in Court: 29 States Seek $200 Billion
Trial over alleged deliberate addiction of children began on Tuesday, with Meta shares falling 3.53 percent on Wall Street.
Trial over alleged deliberate addiction of children began on Tuesday, with Meta shares falling 3.53 percent on Wall Street.
A federal court in the United States on Tuesday began the trial of Meta, accused of deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook to create addiction in children. A coalition of 29 states is seeking penalties of around $200 billion, according to Hespress English, citing AFP.
The lawsuit, first filed by the state coalition in 2023, is based on three key allegations. Meta, prosecutors claim, lied to the public about the dangers of its apps for minors, designed features that encourage addiction and make it difficult to stop using them, and collected data from children under 13 without parental consent, violating federal law.
Four states-California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey-represent the coalition of 29 states. Among the plaintiffs is California Attorney General Rob Bonta, according to ANSA. In addition to financial penalties, the states are demanding changes to Meta's apps, including screen time limits.
Meta's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with Instagram head Adam Mosseri, are expected witnesses at the trial. Zuckerberg is set to testify six months after a Los Angeles jury found Meta liable for harming minors in a previous case.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Meta's attempt to block testimony from Arturo Bejar, a former Meta engineer who has become a key figure in the fight against social media giants. The judge described the attempt as a "Hail Mary" effort to "eliminate a strong witness."
Vincent Joralemon, director of Berkeley's Center for Law and Life Sciences Policy, told AFP that "the big problem here is reputational damage" and forced changes to business practices. He added that the situation "really feels like tobacco in the 1990s," alluding to the historic 1998 settlement when dozens of U.S. states sued tobacco companies for downplaying the harmful effects of their products.
According to the National Association of Attorneys General, tobacco companies have since paid out more than $176 billion and continue to pay $9 billion annually. Nora Freeman Engstrom, a law professor at Stanford, said the case against Meta could be "the beginning of a broader reckoning."
On the first day of the trial, Meta Platforms shares fell 3.53 percent on Wall Street, sliding to $548.89, according to ANSA. Meta, which has over three billion users worldwide, "strongly disagrees" with the allegations, a company spokesperson said.
This is the first federal trial in an expected wave of lawsuits against social media companies, including TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. Meta has already been found liable in state courts in California and New Mexico this year and has appealed both verdicts. The trial is expected to last six weeks, with a verdict expected in October 2026.
