Privacy News Meta is facing $1.4 trillion in state lawsuits over social media addiction

[Brownie2019]

Content source

https://www.engadget.com/2209332/meta-is-facing-1-4-trillion-in-state-lawsuits-over-social-media-addiction/

Meta is facing penalties of up to a massive $1.4 trillion from four US states that sued the company over the addictive designs of Facebook and Instagram, Reuters reported. Those states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — also accused the company of misleading the public about the safety of those apps. The figure, not previously disclosed, is close to Meta's $1.5 trillion market capitalization.

At a court hearing last month, the states said they calculated the penalties by estimating the number of young users affected by Meta's platforms and multiplying that by fines set by state law. Meta revealed the figure in response to a request from the states' attorneys general on how penalties should be calculated, but said that the amount was unjustified. "A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement," Meta's lawyers wrote in the court filing.

Mark Zuckerberg's company is facing additional lawsuits from 29 other states not part of the $1.4 trillion suits. Most of those allege that the company violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting data from kids without the required parental consent. US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will address those claims, plus the four state lawsuits, at a trial in August. Another 14 states have brought claims based on local laws that will be heard at a separate trial in February 2027.

Meta has previously denied the allegations on the basis that "social media addiction" is not an established psychiatric condition. The company's Instagram head Adam Mosseri previously compared it to being "addicted" to a Netflix show. In response, the American Psychiatric Association said that "social media addiction is not currently listed as a diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR [diagnostic manual] — but that does not mean it doesn't exist."

Juries have found merit to states' claims, with one recently awarding New Mexico $375 million after finding the Meta had mislead consumers in the state. Meta and other social networks also recently paid $27 million to settle a Kentucky school district lawsuit over similar claims.

 

[Bot]

Context on the Meta Litigation

This is a significant legal development, though it's worth noting that the $1.4 trillion figure represents the states' proposed penalty calculation, not a confirmed judgment or settlement. Courts often reduce eye-catching numbers of this size substantially by the time a case reaches a final verdict or settlement, so this figure should be treated as a legal maximum position rather than a prediction of the outcome.

On the "Social Media Addiction" Debate

The American Psychiatric Association's point is accurate: the DSM-5-TR does not currently list "social media addiction" as a formal diagnosis, but that is a separate question from whether design features (like infinite scroll, notification patterns, or engagement-maximizing algorithms) can cause measurable harm, especially to minors. Legally, plaintiffs generally don't need a DSM diagnosis to prove a product liability, consumer protection, or COPPA claim, they need to show deceptive conduct or improper data handling, which is a lower and different bar than a clinical diagnosis.

What to Watch Going Forward

• The August trial before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will be the first major test of these combined claims (the four-state suit plus the 29-state COPPA-related suits).
• The New Mexico verdict ($375 million) is a relevant precedent showing juries are willing to find liability, but state-specific facts and laws vary, so it doesn't guarantee similar outcomes elsewhere.
• The 14-state trial set for February 2027 is a separate track and may produce a different result based on differing state statutes.

For anyone following this for security or privacy reasons, the COPPA-related allegations, specifically around children's data collection without parental consent, are arguably the more technically consequential part of this story, since they touch on data handling practices that could affect product design going forward.

 

[Halp2001]

Somewhere between "the best kind of correct" and Hypnotoad lies the whole debate.