Meta goes on trial to face charges it purposely made Instagram and Facebook hard to turn away from
Meta faces a potential penalty of $1.4 trillion in case brought by four states. Attorneys say it could equal or exceed the tobacco settlements of the 1990s.
- Meta faces a potential penalty of $1.4 trillion in case brought by four states. Attorneys say it could equal or exceed the tobacco settlements of the 1990s.
- The suit charges that Meta knew its platforms were hard for kids to break away from, dooming them to spend hours online that harmed their physical and emotional development.
- It's one of a series of actions alleging harm by social media and the outcomes so far have gone beyond financial penalties, with defendants ordered to clean up their acts.
Meta has another day in court, as it faces charges that its Instagram and Facebook platforms were purposely designed to drive excessive use by children and teens, while misleading users, their parents and the public about the danger.
“Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to keep kids on the platforms longer and longer — to the point of physical and mental harm. Exploiting our most vulnerable residents to boost corporate profits is not only morally wrong, it’s also illegal,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of four state AGs prosecuting the case, in a pretrial news release.
Meta has estimated that the states filing the lawsuit will be seeking penalties that could total about $1.4 trillion if they prevail at trial, according to Reuters and the New York Post.
The trial opened in U.S. District Court in Oakland. The lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleges that Meta illegally collected and used the data of children under the age of 13 who used its platforms, made decisions in designing its platforms that drove excessive use and put young users at risk, and that it lied to users, their families, and the public about the safety of Facebook and Instagram.
In doing so, the suit argues, it violated federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, California's False Advertising Law, and California’s Unfair Competition Law.
Meta has been on the losing end
Bonta and the coalition of AGs from Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey have secured numerous decisions leading up to the latest case. In 2024, Bonta blocked an attempt by Meta to dismiss the coalition’s lawsuit. In June 2026, a court fully denied Meta’s attempt to obtain summary judgment that would have terminated this lawsuit. And just last week, a court dismissed Meta’s appeal challenging this lawsuit based on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and denied Meta's motion to stop the trial.
The suit cites evidence that excessive time online is associated with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, susceptibility to addiction, and interference with daily life — including learning. Additional time that young people spend online is associated with an increased severity in symptoms of depression, studies have found. And the AGs argue that evidence shows Meta is and has been aware of the adverse mental health consequences imposed on underage users.
The current trial August trial follows several courtroom setbacks for social media companies.
In March, a New Mexico jury found Meta’s platforms harmful to children’s mental health and imposed a $375 million penalty. The case was one of the first major jury verdicts in the new wave of social media child-safety litigation.
Around the same time, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable in a case brought by a young woman who said Instagram and YouTube contributed to severe mental health problems. The jury awarded $6 million, with Meta responsible for 70% and Google’s YouTube responsible for 30%, according to reports from The Guardian and Business Insider. (The Guardian)
Both companies have denied wrongdoing and are expected to keep fighting the cases. Appeals could take years.
James R. Hood
Why families should care
The litigation could affect more than Meta’s balance sheet. State attorneys general and private plaintiffs are seeking not only money but also changes in how social media platforms operate for young users.
Potential remedies could include stronger age verification, limits on targeted data collection, restrictions on addictive design features, more parental controls, changes to recommendation systems, and outside monitoring of youth-safety practices.
New Mexico, for example, has pursued court-ordered changes that could include platform redesigns, a monitor and limits on features such as infinite scrolling, according to Source New Mexico. Earlier this month, State District Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms constitute a “public nuisance” in New Mexico and ordered the company to pay $567 million into a fund intended largely to provide mental-health treatment and other services for young people.
The judge concluded that New Mexico teenagers are experiencing a mental-health crisis and that Meta’s platforms were a significant contributing cause.
For parents, the cases underscore a practical point: social media safety is not just about what children see online. It is also about how platforms are engineered to keep them engaged.
It was no accident, states argue
“Nearly three years ago, we took action because we believed Meta was putting profits ahead of the health and safety of our kids. Now we are ready to present the evidence and make our case,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. “Meta knew its platforms could harm young people, yet continued practices designed to keep them hooked — sacrificing sleep, being distracted in school, and even considering suicide — because more time online meant more money for Meta."
“This week, we’re in court with 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 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.”
“Meta has endangered the mental health of an entire generation of kids, with addictive features it knew would have these horrific effects,” said New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport.
