Meta lawsuits: Is social media facing a global legal reckoning?

Opening statements begin on Tuesday in a major, multistate jury trial in the United States against Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and which is facing a host of regulatory and legal actions in Europe and beyond.

The US trial opening in the state of California, which could reportedly cost Meta $1.4 trillion in damages, alleges that the social media giant designed addictive social media platforms that are harming the mental health of young people and could significantly change the way these platforms operate if successful, experts say.

US state attorneys general who are bringing the case also say they are concerned about how data on younger users is collected without consent from their guardians.

The case highlights several specific features of these platforms which, according to the attorneys general, specifically harm younger children, such as continuous scrolling and algorithm prompts.

With regulatory action ongoing in Europe and beyond, we look at the impact these cases could have on the workings of social media giants.

Twenty-nine US states have grouped to accuse Meta of designing its platforms in ways that “encourage addictive behaviour, fail to verify users’ ages, encourage adolescents to bypass parental controls, and inadequately safeguard against harmful content and/or intentionally amplify harmful and exploitive content”, according to the filings at the Court of Appeal in California, US.

The first four of the states which filed a federal lawsuit against Meta in 2023 – California, Kentucky, Colorado and New Jersey – will begin outlining their cases on Tuesday.

Besides damages, the attorneys general bringing the case are also asking the court to order that changes be made to Meta’s platforms to protect young social media users.