Meta Rejects Claims It Designed Facebook and Instagram to Addict Children

Meta Platforms rejected accusations by U.S. states that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children for profit, as a major trial began that could reshape two of the world’s most popular social media platforms.

A bipartisan group of 29 U.S. states is suing Meta, seeking potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and changes to the company’s business practices.

Four lead states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — accused Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to hook young users. They said the platforms fuel anxiety, depression and suicide while misleading consumers about their safety.

Meanwhile, all 29 states accused Meta of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using children’s personal data.

Experts have described the trial in federal court in Oakland, California, as the biggest legal test yet of social media’s effects on young users.

Meta and other social media companies, including Snap, TikTok parent ByteDance and YouTube parent Alphabet, face thousands of lawsuits from states, municipalities, school districts and individuals over alleged harm to young users.

States Accuse Meta of Targeting Children

Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, told the eight-person jury that Meta’s business model was to attract users, keep them on its platforms, collect their data and conceal the risks from the public.

She said the strategy worked particularly well with children. According to O’Neill, Meta needed young users while also reassuring parents and others responsible for their welfare that they were safe.

Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt acknowledged that some social media users face difficulties. However, he argued that research had found no clear link between adolescents’ social media use and a lack of well-being.

Schmidt also said Meta co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the company’s goal of improving its services rather than making them dangerous.

He argued that Meta would not succeed if users disliked its products.

Judge Could Order Changes to Facebook and Instagram

Jurors are expected to issue an advisory verdict, while U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine whether Meta is liable.

If she finds the company liable, Rogers could impose civil penalties and order changes to Facebook and Instagram.

Meta has said the penalties could reach as much as $1.4 trillion, an amount close to the company’s market value. However, attorneys general said at a hearing last week that the figure could be closer to $200 billion, equivalent to about three years of Meta’s after-tax profit.

California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are also seeking changes to Facebook and Instagram. Their proposals include removing likes and infinite scrolling, which encourages users to view new posts, as well as introducing time limits for younger users.

They also want Meta to enforce restrictions designed to keep children under 13 off its platforms.

After opening arguments ended, former Meta safety engineer Arturo Bejar began testifying as the states’ first witness.

Bejar has repeatedly said Meta knew its child-safety tools were ineffective. He has also testified against the company in four trials.

Meta sought to block his testimony, alleging that Bejar had deleted Signal messages with former employees. However, Rogers rejected the company’s attempt to remove what she regarded as a key witness.

Bejar told jurors that “move fast and break things” was a mantra at Meta. He also accused the company of taking a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to monitoring whether children under 13 were using its platforms.

He said products such as Reels short-form videos were launched without safety receiving sufficient consideration during their initial deployment.

Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri are also expected to testify. The trial is scheduled to last six weeks.

Meta shares traded lower for most of Tuesday and closed 4.4% down at $543.67.

Critics Protest Outside Courthouse

O’Neill said the states were not seeking to put Meta out of business, acknowledging that social media provides benefits to some people.

However, she accused Meta of exploiting children by studying how their brains respond to online stimuli and tracking their interactions across its platforms.

She cited an internal email to Mosseri that identified “teen time spent” as a goal. She also said some Meta employees viewed Instagram as a “drug” and themselves as “pushers”.

O’Neill argued that Meta had found younger children were more valuable when they started using its apps earlier.

Schmidt acknowledged that employees could use “loose” language privately. However, he maintained that Meta’s products were not addictive and said jurors would hear about efforts by the employee who compared Instagram to a drug to make the platform safer.

Some critics of Meta also gathered outside the courthouse as the trial opened.

Mary Rodee was among them. She said her 15-year-old son, Riley Basford, died by suicide in 2021 after being victimised by a predator on Facebook.

Rodee disputed descriptions of the death as spontaneous suicide and blamed what she described as a system that protects corporations rather than children.

Growing Legal Pressure on Meta

The states’ lawsuit began in 2023, two years after whistleblower Frances Haugen told a U.S. Senate committee that Meta knew its products were unsafe for children and knew how to make them safer, but failed to act in pursuit of higher profits.

Legal pressure on Meta has continued to grow.

In March, a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and Google to pay $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child.

Earlier this month, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million to address teenagers’ mental health after the state’s attorney general described its platforms as a public nuisance.

Tennessee’s attorney general is also suing Meta over similar allegations involving Instagram. That case is being heard in Nashville.