Meta ‘exploited’ children by making Instagram, Facebook addictive, US court hears
OAKLAND: Meta hooked and exploited children, a federal court heard Tuesday in the trial of the social media giant on charges that it deliberately made Instagram and Facebook addictive to young users.In what many experts have called social media's "big tobacco moment," a coalition of states are demanding Meta pay $200 billion in penalties for…
Key points
- Four states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — are representing a coalition of 29 states that first sued…
- Those tobacco companies have paid over $176 billion since, according to data from the National Association of Attorneys General.
- "The huge issue here is reputational harm" and being forced to make major changes, Vincent Joralemon, a director at Berkeley's…
- Meta founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg is among the star witnesses expected to testify, along with Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
OAKLAND: Meta hooked and exploited children, a federal court heard Tuesday in the trial of the social media giant on charges that it deliberately made Instagram and Facebook addictive to young users.
In what many experts have called social media’s “big tobacco moment,” a coalition of states are demanding Meta pay $200 billion in penalties for using technology specifically designed to foster addiction among children in a similar fashion to cigarettes.
“Meta’s business model can be summed up with four simple parts: hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public,” California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill told the court in opening arguments.
Meta “exploited how kids’ brains work,” she said.
What happened
The company has denied all the allegations, insisting it had worked with parents, experts and law enforcement to incorporate protective safeguards for children.
Outside the court, mothers of children who they say were driven to taking their own lives as a direct result of social media usage urged Meta to be held to account.
“I have a message for Meta, Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri: You built one of those most powerful and richest companies in the world,” said one mother, Lori Schott.
The details
“But power does not excuse harm. Profits does not erase the responsibility of big tech, and no business, no matter how wealthy, no matter how influential, no matter how untouchable it feels it is, should get to stand above the truth, the law, and our children,” Schott remarked.
This is the first federal trial in what is expected to be a tidal wave of lawsuits additionally targeting Tiktok, Snapchat and YouTube as families, educators and state governments charge them with harming the mental health of young people.
Meta, which has more than three billion users worldwide, is on trial by itself in this case.
Meta “strongly disagrees” with the allegations in the trial, a spokesperson told AFP.
Why it matters
Along with financial penalties, the states are demanding changes to Meta’s apps to protect young users including limits to screen time.
Four states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — are representing a coalition of 29 states that first sued Meta in 2023.
The charges are three-fold: that Meta lied to the public about how dangerous its apps are for minors; designed some features specifically to secure them hooked and stay online, including screen time-limiting ones that are easy to secure around; and gathered data on children under age 13 without parental consent, in violation of federal law.
The trial is expected to last six weeks, with a verdict anticipated by October.
Background
‘Broader reckoning’
While not the first case seeking to hold tech companies accountable for these types of matters, it could become one of the most consequential.
The case could be “the beginning of a broader reckoning” for Meta, Stanford law professor Nora Freeman Engstrom told AFP, especially if the business has to overhaul its two enormously popular products.
“The huge issue here is reputational harm” and being forced to make major changes, Vincent Joralemon, a director at Berkeley’s Life Sciences Law and Policy Center, informed AFP.
What comes next
Experts see parallels with a three-decade-old settlement between dozens of US states and tobacco companies.
“It really feels like tobacco in the 1990s,” Joralemon said.
While cases about social media harms revolve around the intersection of technology and addiction, the case against Meta focuses on its business practices, similar to when US regulators sued tobacco businesses, Joralemon said.
Dozens of US states sued four major tobacco companies for downplaying the harmful health impacts of their products, and won a 1998 landmark settlement that included financial penalties and changes to product marketing.
