Meta is facing another major legal battle in the United States as a federal trial begins in Oakland, California, over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed in ways that encouraged addictive use among children and teenagers and contributed to mental health problems.
The case is part of a much broader legal fight involving Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, with US states, school districts and individual families accusing social media companies of failing to adequately protect young users.
For Meta, the stakes are particularly high. The company has already faced adverse verdicts in cases involving alleged harm to children and teenagers, while billions of dollars in legal expenses have added to the financial pressure.
Why is Meta facing trial over children and social media?
The Oakland case has been brought jointly by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey.
The states are among dozens that sued Meta in 2023, alleging that the company's platform design contributed to harmful social media use among children.
The central question is whether features built into Facebook and Instagram encouraged young users to spend excessive amounts of time on the platforms and whether Meta knew about the potential risks.
The states are seeking financial damages as well as changes to the way Facebook and Instagram operate.
Meta has denied the allegations and is expected to argue that it has invested significantly in tools and policies intended to protect younger users.
What is Meta accused of?
The broader lawsuits against Meta focus on the design of its social media platforms and whether certain features encouraged compulsive or excessive use.
The allegations include concerns surrounding:
- Addictive platform design
- Excessive engagement among children
- Mental health effects on teenagers
- Insufficient safeguards for young users
- Exposure of children to harmful content
- Alleged failures to adequately address child safety concerns
The lawsuits do not simply focus on individual pieces of content. A major part of the legal argument concerns how the platforms themselves were designed and whether those design choices contributed to harmful behaviour.
Meta has already faced major legal setbacks
The Oakland trial comes after Meta suffered significant losses in other US cases this year.
In New Mexico, the state accused Meta of knowingly contributing to harm to children's mental health and failing to adequately address child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
A jury ruled against Meta in March and found thousands of violations, resulting in a $375 million penalty.
In August, a judge ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million in the second phase of the proceedings and imposed new safety requirements.
Those measures included restrictions affecting users under 18, limitations involving AI chatbots and additional warnings on the platforms.
Meta has disputed the findings and said it plans to appeal.
Tennessee is also suing Meta
Tennessee has pursued a separate case against Meta in state court.
The lawsuit argues that Meta knowingly designed Instagram in ways that could encourage addictive behaviour among children while failing to adequately address the risks.
Opening statements in that case were delivered in July, with proceedings expected to continue into September.
The Tennessee case is another example of how the legal pressure on Meta has expanded beyond the original multistate litigation.
Meta and YouTube already lost a major bellwether case
Earlier this year, a jury in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube liable in a case involving allegations that their platforms were designed to encourage addiction among young users.
The plaintiff, identified by the initials KGM, told the court that she became addicted to social media as a child and that her use of the platforms worsened her mental health struggles.
After more than 40 hours of deliberations, jurors awarded $6 million in damages.
The case was significant because it was selected as a bellwether trial.
Bellwether cases are closely watched because their outcomes can provide an indication of how similar lawsuits might proceed, although they do not automatically determine the outcome of other cases.
Meta and YouTube have appealed the verdict.
Thousands of lawsuits target social media companies
The legal challenge facing Meta extends far beyond government lawsuits.
School districts across the US have also filed cases against major social media companies, arguing that social media-related mental health problems have created additional costs for schools.
One Kentucky school district case involving Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube was selected as a bellwether from roughly 1,200 similar lawsuits. The companies settled before the trial began.
There are also thousands of individual lawsuits filed by families and users.
Some allege that social media addiction contributed to serious mental health problems, while other cases involve allegations concerning suicide, drug purchases and harmful content encountered through social platforms.
Could the Oakland trial change Facebook and Instagram?
The outcome could have consequences beyond financial damages.
If courts find that Meta's platform design violated consumer protection laws or contributed to harm among children, the company could face pressure to change features affecting younger users.
Possible areas of scrutiny include:
- Age verification and age-based restrictions
- Recommendation algorithms
- Notifications and engagement features
- AI chatbot access for minors
- Warnings and parental controls
- Content moderation and child-safety systems
- How much time children can spend on the platforms
However, the precise consequences will depend on the findings and remedies ordered by the court.
Meta's defence
Meta has rejected the allegations and says it has worked extensively with parents, experts and law enforcement to understand and address concerns involving young users.
The company has also argued that it has introduced measures designed to improve safety for teenagers and families.
The legal battle therefore centres on a fundamental question: whether those safeguards were sufficient, and whether Meta's underlying platform design itself contributed to the alleged harm.
Why this case matters for social media regulation
The Oakland trial is part of a larger shift in how governments and courts are examining the responsibilities of technology companies.
For years, debates around social media safety largely focused on content posted by users. Increasingly, lawsuits are examining the technology and business models behind the platforms themselves.
If plaintiffs succeed in multiple cases, social media companies could face greater legal pressure to redesign products for younger users.
That could affect not only Meta but also TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other platforms that rely heavily on engagement and recommendation systems.
The Oakland case is therefore being closely watched as another test of how far technology companies can be held legally responsible for the effects of their platforms on children.
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