Opening arguments begin in Meta trial over teenagers' alleged addiction to social media

Accused of having turned teens into Facebook and Instagram addicts, Meta is facing the first arguments this Tuesday in the U.S. in a lawsuit in which several states are seeking nearly $200 billion.

Following the jury selection last week, the federal court in Oakland, near San Francisco, will begin hearing the merits of the case this Tuesday during six weeks of hearings.

This is the first federal trial in a broad legal dispute that also targets TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, which are accused by families, school districts, and state authorities of having harmed teenagers' mental health.

The company founded and led by Mark Zuckerberg is the sole defendant in this case, following two convictions this year in local courts in Los Angeles and New Mexico, which it has filed appeals against.

The plaintiff states are seeking, according to a preliminary estimate, approximately $193 billion in penalties. Last week, they denied that they were seeking $1.4 trillion, as Meta had calculated, and accused the company of trying to "stun" the public.

They are also demanding that stricter protective measures—ranging from screen time limits to notifications—be automatically applied to minors, without allowing teenagers to modify them on their own.

Although 29 states in the coalition have been suing Meta since 2023, the lead roles in this lawsuit are played by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey.

Their case is based on three main points: Meta allegedly lied to the public about the harmful effects of its apps on teenagers; it designed certain features to keep them engaged, particularly appearance filters and easily circumventable time-limiting tools; and it collected data from children under 13 without parental consent, in violation of a federal law.

"We will prove to a jury that Meta concealed what it knew about the harm caused to young people, because looking the other way was more profitable," Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said on Monday.

"We did it with the tobacco industry in the 1990s, we did it with the companies responsible for the opioid crisis, and we'll do it again with Meta," he said.

Advisory jury

Last week, the eight jury members were selected, although their role will be advisory.

The final decision will rest with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, known for having sanctioned Apple and for presiding over the recent trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI.

Mark Zuckerberg is expected to be the star witness, six months after his first appearance before a jury in Los Angeles, which resulted in a historic verdict for the harm suffered by a teenage girl.

The jury will also hear from Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineer who has become a key figure in the fight against social media giants.

The judge rejected the California-based group's motion to exclude his testimony, ruling that it was a "desperate attempt to eliminate a strong witness" for the plaintiffs.

The company claims to have approximately 3.6 billion users across all its apps and is posting record profits that are funding its costly ambitions for AI development.