Meta faces a $1,400 billion trial
(Dan Tri) - Meta is facing the most important legal battle ever on the issue of safety and addiction in teenagers. The lawsuit could change the way the company operates social networks.
The lawsuit was initiated in 2023 by a group of 29 state Attorneys General. These people accused Meta of intentionally designing its platforms to get young people addicted, to boost its business, and to harm the mental health of children and teens in their states.
Meta is facing the most important legal battle ever on the issue of safety and addiction in teenagers (Photo: CNBC).
Arturo Béjar, Facebook's former director of engineering, has become a whistleblower for the company. He said Meta prioritizes rapid development and deployment of new products over safety.
This person said that she had to fight to prevent her teenage daughter from encountering inappropriate content and solicitations from strangers on Instagram.
"Their motto is to move fast and break things. Unfortunately, what's broken here is children's mental health," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Similar to Snap, TikTok and YouTube, Meta is facing thousands of lawsuits related to harming young people. The company lost two recent lawsuits and had to pay nearly $1 billion in compensation.
However, the damages in this lawsuit could be much higher. The four states could jointly claim up to $1,400 billion in compensation. The proposed compensation level is nearly equal to the total capitalization value of Meta on the Wall Street stock exchange.
The Attorney General said they may seek a smaller fine. And even if the court awards lower damages, these states still want an injunction requiring changes to the way Meta operates its social media platforms.
For his part, Meta called the above accusations "baseless". At the same time, the company also said that the proposed huge financial penalty was "completely disproportionate" to the complaints.
The compensation that Meta faces is up to 1,400 billion USD (Photo: CNN).
“The Attorneys General presented no evidence that anyone in their state was misled. They alleged features like the creation of secondary Instagram accounts harmed residents, and attempted to punish Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification.
Instead of sticking to the facts or the law, the states decided to pursue a far-fetched fine," a Meta spokesperson said.
Paul Schmidt, Meta's attorney, said the lawsuit fails to demonstrate any actual harm from Meta's platforms.
Schmidt also said that Meta has an interest in ensuring people have a good experience on its platforms, emphasizing safety measures such as notification controls, parental controls, and teen content policies.
The trial is expected to last at least six weeks with testimony from senior Meta executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Meta's Chief Global Safety Officer Antigone Davis.