By Rajwa Quasim
Meta is set to fight against the lawsuits filed by a group of state attorneys general which alleged the company of designing its social media platforms in a way that makes young users addicted to the platform along with violation of other laws. The jury trial is set to begin on Tuesday.
The lawsuit against Meta accuses the company of designing features such as the “like” button, infinite scrolling and recommendations algorithms to keep the young users hooked to the app. They argue that Meta prioritized user engagement and ad revenue over children’s safety, disrupting their education and sleep. They further claimed that Meta’s visual filters promote eating disorders and body dysmorphia and alleged that company allowed children under 13 to use their social media platforms and collected their personal information without parental consent, violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
States such as California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties and product charges alleging Meta platforms violating consumer protection laws.
“We allege in our complaint, and what we’re prepared to prove at trial, is that they’re deceiving consumers about Facebook and Instagram’s dangers. They’re putting the profits … over the health of a generation of young people,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in an interview with NPR.
READ: Meta to release new AI model’s weights as Zuckerberg doubles down on open source (August 10, 2026)
Meta spokesperson argued against the allegations, saying that “The AGs offer no proof anyone in their states was misled, claim benign features like having an additional Instagram account somehow harmed their residents, and attempt to penalize Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification. We stand by our record of creating strong protections for teens and look forward to making our case in court.”
Recently, there’s wave of lawsuits filed against social media companies to hold them accountable for their platform.
Lask week, a U.S. appeals court dealt a major blow to social media giants like Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat and other companies ruling that thousands of lawsuits alleging their platforms were designed to be addictive to young users can move forward.
Previously, New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $567 million for a fund aimed at addressing mental health harms among teenagers who use its platforms. The judge also ordered the company to make several changes to Facebook and Instagram in a way it doesn’t harm children’s wellbeing. In the first ruling in March, the jury had ordered the company to pay $375 million in penalty. It had found the company violated the state’s consumer protection law, and in total, making the company pay around $942 million. The judge had also declared the company as “a public nuisance.” But the company had then said it would appeal.
READ: Meta apologizes over temporary Modi post restriction (August 5, 2026)
In an attempt to squash the lawsuits last week, the companies argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 shields them from lawsuits which alleged they failed to warn about the addictive nature of their services. The act generally protects online platforms from liability for content posted by users.
“A trial is how the public finds out what Meta knew about its products’ impact on children, when it knew it, and what it chose to do with that knowledge. Meta has fought to keep that evidence from the public,” said Lexi Hazam and Previn Warren, the attorneys representing school districts and individuals suing Meta. The plaintiffs also claim that the defendants cannot use Section 230 as it does not cover claims related to how companies design their platform or how they operate.
The California state itself has roughly 3,300 consolidated lawsuits and the cases have been centralized (multidistrict litigation), bringing together thousands of similar lawsuits to keep the case consistent and avoid duplication of tasks, such as collecting evidence. The case, being heard by the California court Judge Gonzalez Rogers, will decide the future of the company that owns Facebook and Instagram.
Meta’s stock market value today is nearly $1.5 trillion.