Meta accused in US court of luring children into social media addiction
A landmark federal trial opened in the United States on Tuesday, with prosecutors accusing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, of deliberately designing its platforms to be addictive to children and then misleading the public about the dangers. The case, brought by a coalition of states, seeks penalties of around $200 billion and sweeping changes to how the company’s apps operate for young users.
During opening statements in Oakland, California, prosecutor Megan O’Neill said Meta’s business model was intended to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public.” She argued that the company “exploited how kids’ brains work,” making them vulnerable to compulsive use.
Meta’s lawyer, Paul Schmidt, acknowledged that some users have had negative experiences on the platforms but said the company has “tried to come up with tools to help them.” In pre-trial statements, Meta denied the allegations and said it has worked with parents, experts, and law enforcement to incorporate safeguards for children.
The case has been described by legal experts as a “big tobacco moment” for social media. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told reporters that, like earlier litigation against tobacco companies, this lawsuit involves public health and marketing practices that affected children. He noted that the states were stepping in where “Congress failed to act.”
Former Meta engineering director Arturo Bejar testified that during Facebook’s early years, the priority was “to be able to get things into the hands of users as fast as possible, which meant that a lot of the time, safety or security was an afterthought.” Meta had tried to block Bejar from testifying, but the judge allowed him to take the stand.
Outside the courthouse, activists and parents, including some who say their children were driven to suicide by social media use, rallied. One mother, Lori Schott, addressed Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri, saying, “Power does not excuse harm.” Zuckerberg and Mosseri are expected to testify, according to court documents, though California Attorney General Rob Bonta declined to confirm their appearance.
This is the first federal trial in what is expected to be a wave of lawsuits against social media companies including TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. Families, educators, and state governments accuse these platforms of harming the mental health of young people. Meta, with more than three billion users worldwide, is the sole defendant in this case.
The states’ allegations are threefold: that Meta lied to the public about the dangers of its apps for minors; that it designed features, including screen-time limits that are easy to bypass, to keep children online; and that it collected data on children under 13 without parental consent, violating federal law. In addition to financial penalties, the states are asking for changes such as stricter screen-time limits and more transparent data practices.
Four states—California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey—are leading the coalition of 29 states that first filed suit in 2023. The trial is expected to last about six weeks, with a verdict anticipated by October. Legal analysts say that beyond financial penalties, Meta faces significant reputational risk and the possibility of court-ordered changes to its most popular products.
