U.S. states launch major lawsuit against Meta, comparing it to 1990s tobacco cases

A massive federal lawsuit has commenced in California, with 29 U.S. states accusing social media giant Meta of deliberately designing its platforms to be addictive for children. The states allege that Meta intentionally created features on Instagram and Facebook intended to keep young users returning to the services repeatedly.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, denies all accusations. The states are demanding court orders compelling Meta to alter its platforms, specifically by removing features such as 'like' counts and continuous scrolling. They also accuse Meta of misleading users about the safety of its services. The potential financial penalties are substantial, with some estimates of damages reaching up to $1.4 trillion, a figure close to Meta's market value.

The legal battle has drawn comparisons to the major tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s. In those cases, states sued major tobacco companies for downplaying the health risks of smoking. Similar to how incriminating documents emerged in the tobacco trials, revealing companies' knowledge of harm, the states in this case aim to prove Meta concealed its understanding of the detrimental effects its products have on young users.

Kentucky's Attorney General, Russell Coleman, stated, "We did this in the tobacco cases of the 1990s. We did this with the companies behind the opioid crisis. We will do it again with Meta." Even before the trial began, the states secured a preliminary victory when a judge allowed a former Meta employee, Arturo Béjar, to testify, despite Meta's attempts to block his testimony. Béjar is expected to shed light on whether Meta presented a misleading public image of its knowledge regarding platform safety for minors.

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We did this in the tobacco cases of the 1990s. We did this with the companies behind the opioid crisis. We will do it again with Meta.