Facebook parent company denies deliberately hooking children on its platforms

Meta Platforms has denied accusations by a coalition of 29 US states that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children in pursuit of profit, as a landmark trial got under way in Oakland, California, on Tuesday.

Four lead states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – accuse Meta of designing its platforms to hook young users, contributing to anxiety, depression and even suicide, while misleading the public about their safety. All 29 states allege Meta violated federal law by improperly collecting children’s personal data. Experts have called it the most significant legal test yet of social media’s effects on young people, with Snap, TikTok and YouTube also facing similar lawsuits.

California deputy attorney-general Megan O’Neill told the jury that Meta’s business model was to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public”, adding that internal emails showed staff had privately described Instagram as a “drug” and themselves as “pushers”. Meta’s lawyer, Paul Schmidt, countered that research showed no clear link between adolescent social media use and diminished wellbeing, and maintained the company’s products were not addictive.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will ultimately decide Meta’s liability, with potential penalties estimated by the states at around $200 billion. The states are also seeking changes including the removal of likes and infinite scroll, and stronger under-13 age restrictions.

Former Meta safety engineer Arturo Bejar testified as the states’ first witness, telling the court that “move fast and break things” had been a company mantra and that safety was not initially a consideration in products such as Reels. Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri are both expected to testify during the trial, which is scheduled to run for six weeks.

The case follows years of scrutiny of Meta’s practices, including a $6 million judgment against Meta and Google in March over a young woman’s addiction to Instagram and YouTube, and a $567 million payout ordered against Meta in New Mexico earlier this month.