Meta to face 29 states in $1.4tn youth safety trial
The trial, expected to run seven weeks, will also hear testimony from Instagram head Adam Mosseri alongside Zuckerberg himself
Mark Zuckerberg is due in an Oakland courtroom this week to defend claims that Meta built Facebook and Instagram to hook children.
Jury selection begins Wednesday in a case brought by a coalition of state attorneys general, with opening statements set for 18 August in what's shaping up as the largest test yet of youth social media litigation.
What is Meta’s trial about?
Colorado, Kentucky, California and New Jersey lead claims that Meta designed its platforms to keep young users engaged while misleading the public about the risks.
A broader group of 29 states has joined allegations that the company unlawfully collected and used children's data in violation of federal law. The trial, expected to run seven weeks, will also hear testimony from Instagram head Adam Mosseri alongside Zuckerberg himself.
According to Meta, the damage claim can go up to $1.4 trillion, which is quite near to the value of market capitalisation at $1.5 trillion.
It is not known as yet as to how much the states are demanding; apart from money, however, the states are requesting the court to compel Meta to impose age limits, get rid of endless scrolling, and change the algorithm.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said the state's position is that children are not, in her words, data points to be monetised.
A judge from New Mexico ordered Meta this week to pay a fine of $567 million and make changes to its platforms because Meta was found to be responsible for contributing to a youth mental health crisis in the state, while in a separate instance Meta settled a lawsuit filed against it by a Kentucky school district which was scheduled for trial in June.
The lawsuit has been rejected this week by a federal appeals court that dismissed Meta's appeal from earlier decisions allowing the case to go forward.
This particular lawsuit is one of several thousand cases that have been centralised in U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' court, whose decision will be announced following the trial in October, based on an advisory jury’s verdict.
There are also another 3,300-plus lawsuits being heard in the Los Angeles state court.
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, 85% of Americans think social media can be addictive for children.
