A massive lawsuit filed by a coalition of 29 states against Meta is set to begin in federal court in California. The lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg's company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive for young users, damaging their mental health.
A massive lawsuit filed by a coalition of 29 states against Meta is set to begin in federal court in California. The lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg's company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive for young users, damaging their mental health.
The group will be represented by the attorneys general of Colorado, California, New Jersey and Kentucky, Reuters reported . They will make opening statements to the jury, which will serve as a deliberative jury. The final decision in the case will be made by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
The plaintiffs allege that Meta misled consumers about the safety of its platforms for children and teens. The company is also accused of illegally collecting and using the personal data of minors. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri are expected to testify during the weeks-long trial. The states plan to present a wealth of internal company documents and call former employees to testify.
Meta’s lawyers, for their part, say the company is working hard to protect children online. In a statement to the press, a Meta spokesperson called the claims baseless, noting that the states have failed to provide evidence of actual harm or misrepresentation. The company believes it is being punished for industry-wide issues like age verification in order to secure an “unbelievable payout.”
Experts call this process the biggest test for social networks in the context of their influence on young people. The amount of potential fines is impressive: Meta estimates the maximum sanctions at $ 1.4 trillion (with the company's market capitalization of about $ 1.5 trillion). Although prosecutors have not yet named the final figure, estimates closer to $ 200 billion were heard at previous hearings. In addition to monetary penalties, the states are demanding that the company implement strict age restrictions, remove infinite scrolling of the feed and make other changes to the operation of the platforms throughout the United States.
Earlier, Meta Platforms' Chief Global Officer Joel Kaplan apologized to India's Information Technology Minister for temporarily restricting access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post.
