Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and lawyers for both sides probed prospective jurors about their views of social media and Meta, asking if they personally had social media accounts, whether their kids use social media, and if they think social media is responsible for mental health, among other questions.
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Despite the eye-popping number, money isn’t Meta’s biggest problem, if it were to lose the case. Meta founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg is among the star witnesses expected to testify. A coalition of states sued Meta in 2023 for allegedly designing addictive features for kids in its apps and violating state laws. Meta was convicted on similar grounds in separate trials held in Los Angeles and New Mexico, with combined damages that approach $1 billion. In Oakland, the states are demanding a long list of changes to Meta’s apps, in addition to financial penalties as high as $1.4 trillion, close to Meta’s entire market value, which hovers around $1.5 trillion.
Meta “strongly disagrees with these allegations” and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” a spokesperson told AFP, adding that the company has “listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement. the legal argument in this case against Meta centres on its business practices, similar to when the federal government sued tobacco companies around three decades ago, Joralemon said While such cases about social media harms revolve around the intersection of technology and addiction.
