Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is on trial in a federal court in Oakland, California, this week in what is being described as the most consequential of thousands of lawsuits the company faces over child safety on its platforms.
The lawsuit accuses the company of knowingly designing features that make its platforms addictive to children, contributing to a broader youth mental health crisis. It also alleges that Meta collected data on children under 13 without parental consent, in violation of federal law. The states are seeking financial damages that could, in theory, total as much as $1.4 trillion, along with court-ordered changes to how Meta operates Facebook and Instagram.
A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the allegations and remained confident the evidence would show its longstanding commitment to supporting young people, adding that it has worked with parents, experts and law enforcement to address the issues raised in the case.
The Oakland trial comes weeks after a New Mexico court delivered a separate blow to the company. A jury there ordered Meta in March to pay $375 million in civil penalties after finding it had knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. In a second phase of that case, a judge added a further $567 million in penalties and ordered new safety measures, including time limits for minors, restrictions on AI chatbots and mandatory platform warnings, though that order applies only to users in New Mexico. Meta is appealing the decision.
Jury selection began on August 12 in the U.S. District Court in Oakland, with opening arguments following in the days after. The trial, expected to last six to eight weeks, consolidates lawsuits filed by attorneys general across the country, although only four states, California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, are proceeding to trial first. The case originated from a multistate lawsuit filed by 29 states in 2023, with the remaining states expected to have their own trials later.
Advocates following the California case say it could force broader changes to how the company designs its products for younger users, though Meta has maintained that it has introduced numerous features in recent years to improve safety for teenage users.
