A jury trial that could fundamentally reshape how Instagram and Facebook work for young people got under way this week, as the Meta Instagram Facebook trial moved from pre-hearing manoeuvres into a federal courtroom. Thirty US states, including California and New York, are suing Meta over alleged violations of federal and state privacy laws for children, and the scale of what they are demanding (in money and in platform changes) is unlike anything Meta has faced before.
The states are seeking upwards of $1 trillion from the company. More striking in practical terms, they want the court to order sweeping changes to the way Meta’s platforms actually operate for young users.
What the states are demanding from Meta
The list of demanded changes covers some of the most familiar features of modern social media. The states want Meta to remove visible “like” counts, end the infinite scroll that keeps users browsing without a natural stopping point, and alter what they call “dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms”. They are also pushing for parental verification for teenage users, the removal of image filters that alter appearance in photos, an end to autoplay video, a ban on multiple accounts, and the elimination of disappearing posts such as Instagram Stories.
Each of those features is central to how Meta’s platforms feel and function today. According to the states, they are also deliberately designed to keep users, including children and teenagers, on the apps as often and for as long as possible. The states further allege that Meta makes it actively difficult for young people to step back, through persistent notifications engineered to draw them back in. By targeting child users in this way, the states contend, Meta “chose to exploit” young people to grow its business. Meta’s current stock market value stands at around $1.5 trillion.
Meta has rejected the claims. ‘We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,’ a company spokeswoman said.
Jury seated as Meta Instagram Facebook trial opens
According to the Daily Journal, an eight-person federal jury was seated to hear the case, which centres on claims by dozens of state attorneys general that Meta misled the public about the risks its platforms pose to children and contributed to adolescent social media addiction. The case is being heard by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a chief federal judge in California who has built a reputation over nearly 20 years for being direct and incisive from the bench.
The 30 states involved represent nearly two-thirds of the US population, which means any platform changes ordered as a result would effectively apply across the country.
A precedent already set in New Mexico
This is not the first time a court has turned against Meta over these issues. A judge in New Mexico, Judge Bryan Biedscheid, already fined the company a collective $942 million and ordered changes including the removal of like counts for under-18s, a ban on teenagers sending or receiving nudity through the platforms, and restrictions on push notifications outside certain hours. Judge Biedscheid went further still, declaring Meta a “public nuisance” comparable to a factory polluting the air, causing “harmful effects” that damaged an entire population. Meta said it would appeal against that ruling.
Because that order applies only in New Mexico, the 30-state lawsuit is seen as the broader test. If those states prevail, Meta would almost certainly need to enact changes across the whole of the US.
The human cost at the heart of the case
The states’ lawyers have pointed to Meta’s own internal research, drawn from more than two million documents the company has handed over, which showed that like counts drove “social comparison” and were linked to “increased loneliness, worse body image, and negative mood or affect” among users.
Court testimony has given that research a human face. Kaley, who prevailed in her own separate lawsuit against Meta, described how she created dozens of accounts on YouTube and Instagram to manufacture likes on her own posts, chasing engagement and a sense of self-worth. She was nine years old at the time, and said she remembered feeling depressed, a diagnosis that followed when she was 10.
Research over recent years has linked engagement metrics such as like counts to feelings of rejection and depression in teenagers, and Judge Biedscheid framed the issue in his New Mexico order as part of a broader “youth mental health crisis”. Now attorneys from 30 states are asking Judge Gonzalez Rogers to reach the same conclusion, with consequences that would stretch far beyond any single state’s borders. The US District Court for the Northern District of California is where the outcome will be decided.
