Meta has repeatedly lost court cases over its platform's targeting and harm of young users, but a jury trial set to begin on Tuesday (August 18) may pose the biggest threat to its operations yet.
The lawsuit originated from lawsuits filed in 2023 by 30 U.S. states, including California and New York. These state governments accused Meta of mostly violating federal and state-level children's privacy laws.
The states not only seek more than US$1 trillion (6.74 trillion yuan; NT$31.8 trillion) from Meta in compensation, but also require Meta to make changes to Instagram and Facebook, including eliminating the "like" count and infinite scrolling functions.
If Meta ultimately loses this massive lawsuit, it could fundamentally change the way young people experience social media.
The U.S. states suing Meta are also demanding more changes to how Instagram and Facebook operate toward young people.
They require Meta to:
Implement parent verification process for teen users
Change its “recommendation algorithm for manipulating dopamine”
Remove various image filters from photos that change the appearance of portraits
End automatic playback of video content
Creation of multiple accounts is prohibited
Stop posting ephemeral or “ephemeral” content, such as Instagram Stories
All of these features are core to the current user experience of the Meta platform.
States argue the features are designed to retain users, including teenagers and children, for as long as possible. They claim that Meta even makes it difficult for young people to reduce their use of the platform through means such as frequent push notifications, which are designed to encourage young people to use the app again.
Meta is said to have chosen to "exploit" young people to attract them to use its platform by targeting child users, thereby expanding its user base and business.
Today, Meta's market capitalization on the stock market is approximately $1.5 trillion.
Meta has always denied the accusations.
"We strongly dispute these allegations and believe the evidence will demonstrate our long-standing commitment to supporting young people," a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
The U.S. states submitted their claims to California Chief Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
She tried the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman case and became known for her sharp and forthright decisions during her nearly 20 years on the bench.
In the latest ruling against Meta, a New Mexico judge fined the company a total of $942 million and ordered it to make changes similar to those now required in other states.
Changes ordered by Judge Bryan Biedscheid include removing likes from users under 18 on Instagram and Facebook; banning teenagers from sending or receiving nudity on the platforms; and limiting push notifications from apps to certain times of the day.
The judge also declared that Meta constituted a "public nuisance", like a factory that polluted the air, causing "harmful effects" on public health and affecting the entire population.
Meta said it would appeal the ruling.
While Judge Biedscheid's order only requires Meta to make changes in New Mexico, if the 30 states prevail in separate lawsuits against Meta, Meta will almost certainly be required to make platform changes across the United States.
The states involved in the lawsuit account for about two-thirds of the nation's population.
So if Meta does implement these changes, it will mark a major change to its platform experience.
For example, the "like" function has existed since Meta was founded, when it was still called Facebook, and Facebook was its only platform.
Likes are ubiquitous on social media platforms these days. It's the primary way people interact with the text, images, and videos they see online.
However, likes are increasingly seen as a way to promote negative emotions, especially among young people.
Earlier this year, a young woman named Kaley won her lawsuit against Meta. Testifying in court, she described how she created dozens of accounts on YouTube and Instagram.
She will use the account system to get likes on her posts, hoping to increase interaction with other users and enhance her sense of identity and self-worth.
Kelly was only nine years old at the time.
She said she remembers feeling depressed and was later diagnosed with depression at the age of ten.
Research over the past few years has shown that engagement metrics such as likes can lead to feelings of rejection and depression in teens.
In state lawsuits against Meta, the company said it had filed more than 2 million documents, and lawyers pointed to Meta's own research showing that similarity drives "social comparison," the psychological behavior of measuring one's worth by comparing one's image to that of others.
