A federal judge just punched a hole in Mark Zuckerberg's legal shield, ruling that 29 state attorneys general can proceed with their lawsuit accusing Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to addict children and covering up the harm — a decision that puts the corrosive effects of algorithmic manipulation squarely in front of a jury.
Why it matters: While free-speech platforms let people speak freely, Meta's model depends on keeping users — especially kids — compulsively scrolling. The company built a hollow product sustained by addiction, and now it has to answer for it in court.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California denied Meta's motion to dismiss claims based on deception, unfair practices, and violations of the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. On the COPPA claim, she went further: she granted summary judgment to the states, finding it undisputed that Meta failed to comply with the law's notice and parental consent requirements.
Meta had argued that "social media addiction" isn't an established psychiatric condition, so its statements that the platforms aren't addictive couldn't be false. The company also claimed it directed Facebook and Instagram to a general audience, not children under 13.
The judge wasn't buying it. In a 38-page decision, Gonzalez Rogers found material factual disputes over whether Meta's platforms are addictive, whether Meta falsely denied designing them that way, and whether it "partially" directed them at children. "The AGs present a reasonable interpretation of [Meta's] statements that Facebook and Instagram are not designed in ways that cause teens to compulsively use the platforms to their detriment," she wrote. "To the extent plaintiffs' evidence shows that the platforms are in fact designed to do just that, a jury could reasonably find the statements were untrue to a reasonable person."
The states cited research showing children's use of Facebook and Instagram could lead to depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and self-harm including suicide. Meta countered the attorneys general had no evidence it misled consumers, including in congressional testimony by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Gonzalez Rogers also oversees related multidistrict litigation by more than 2,600 individuals, school districts, and local governments over whether social media platforms addict children. A trial in the states' case is scheduled for Aug. 18.
Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The question now is whether a jury will hold Zuckerberg's empire accountable for engineering dependence in kids — or whether Big Tech's legal war of attrition buries another effort to rein it in.
