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In the opening of what is expected to be a lengthy and tense federal trial, a lawyer representing California and three other states suing tech giant Meta told jurors the company misled “users, legislators, teachers and parents’ for years” about the addictive dangers of Facebook and Instagram to teens.
Meta “hid the truth” about users under the age of 13, Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice, said in her opening statement Tuesday in a downtown Oakland federal courtroom. The company “did too little too late” to block preteen users, she said.
“Meta needed kids, and it needed to reassure the people who cared about them that their kids were safe,” O’Neill said. While Meta publicly insisted its social media apps were safe for kids and prioritized their safety, it had research showing kids have “bad, even traumatic experiences” on the platforms, O’Neill said.
Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt told jurors in his opening that the platforms have “various safety tools” to protect children and it “finds people under 13 and removes them.”
“Age verification is a real challenge,” he said. “It’s a challenge across the entire industry.”
Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey have joined California in the litigation.
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has estimated the trial could last six weeks. Meta Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify.
The case’s eight jurors are acting in an advisory capacity to Gonzalez, who will to decide the matter.
The plaintiffs are seeking $1.4 trillion in damages, an amount experts say is unlikely to be reached and would force Menlo Park-based Meta into bankruptcy if it is. The states also want a judicial order forcing the company to make substantial changes to platform designs.
Meta faces similar upcoming litigation in other states.
In March, a jury in New Mexico found that Meta violated the state’s consumer protection laws by failing to protect children from sexual predators. The company was ordered to pay $942 million in damages and make changes such as limiting push notifications. Meta is appealing the verdict.
