Meta is set to defend itself against claims it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive for children, in a trial legal experts are comparing to the landmark tobacco cases of the 1990s.

The case, beginning this week in Oakland, California, sees four US states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – representing a broader coalition that sued the tech giant in 2023. They claim Meta knowingly created features that harm young users’ mental health.

A Meta spokesperson told AFP the company “strongly disagrees with these allegations” and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people”. The firm said it has worked with parents, experts and law enforcement to address concerns.

Echoes of tobacco litigation

Vincent Joralemon, a director at Berkeley’s Life Sciences Law and Policy Centre, said the case mirrors the tobacco industry’s legal reckoning three decades ago. “It really feels like tobacco in the 1990s,” he told AFP.

The comparison is apt. By the early 1990s, research had confirmed tobacco caused cancer and other health problems. Further investigations revealed companies had deliberately hidden these risks from the public, particularly whilst targeting children with cartoon characters like “Joe Camel” in advertising campaigns.

Dozens of US states sued four major tobacco firms, securing a landmark 1998 settlement that imposed financial penalties and banned certain marketing practices aimed at children.

Financial and reputational stakes

Meta has already been convicted on similar grounds in separate trials in Los Angeles and New Mexico, facing combined damages approaching $1 billion. In the Oakland case, the states are seeking penalties as high as $1.4 trillion – close to Meta’s entire market value of around $1.5 trillion.

However, money may not be Meta’s biggest worry. “The huge issue here is reputational harm” and potential forced changes to its apps, Joralemon said. Having a chief executive on the witness stand can also prove damaging.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify as one of the trial’s star witnesses.

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Broader reckoning for social media

Nora Freeman Engstrom, a law professor at Stanford, described the case as potentially “the beginning of a broader reckoning” for Meta. She said the gap between what Meta knew privately and what it disclosed publicly would be crucial.

The company maintains it is “confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts”.

Meta is not alone in facing legal action. In May, Snap, TikTok, YouTube and Meta settled with a Kentucky school district for $27 million to avoid a trial that could have set a precedent for around 1 200 similar lawsuits.

On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that more than 3 000 additional lawsuits against Meta, Google (YouTube’s parent), Snap and TikTok can proceed.

With so many cases in the pipeline, Joralemon warned these lawsuits could “go on for decades”.

Jury selection begins today in Oakland, with opening statements expected on 18 August.

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