Global Legal Reckoning: Meta Faces Massive US Trial and International Scrutiny Over Youth Mental Health

Opening statements begin on Tuesday in a major, multistate jury trial in the United States against Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, alongside a host of regulatory and legal actions in Europe and beyond. The US trial opening in the state of California, which could reportedly cost Meta $1.4 trillion in damages, alleges that the social media giant designed addictive platforms that are harming the mental health of young people and could significantly change the way these platforms operate if successful, experts say.

US state attorneys general bringing the case are also concerned about how data on younger users is collected without consent from guardians. The case highlights specific features like continuous scrolling and algorithm prompts that allegedly harm younger children. With regulatory action ongoing globally, we look at the impact these cases could have on the workings of social media giants.

Twenty-nine US states have grouped to accuse Meta of designing platforms that encourage addictive behavior, fail to verify ages, encourage adolescents to bypass parental controls, and inadequately safeguard against or intentionally amplify harmful content, according to filings at the Court of Appeal in California. Meta strongly denies the allegations.

The first four states to file a federal lawsuit against Meta in 2023—California, Kentucky, Colorado, and New Jersey—will begin outlining their cases on Tuesday. Besides damages, attorneys general are asking the court to order platform changes to protect young users, such as implementing parental verification, changing dopamine-manipulating algorithms, removing image filters, forbidding multiple accounts, and ending disappearing messages.

Sonia Livingstone, professor at the London School of Economics and director of the Digital Futures for Children Centre, told Al Jazeera the case is highly significant. Julia Powles, executive director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, told CNBC that California matters more than any other US jurisdiction because it has the greatest legal reach and is watched worldwide.

Meanwhile, Meta faces regulatory and legal challenges internationally, including in the European Union under the Digital Services Act, the United Kingdom with proposed sweeping bans for those under 16, Australia with its ongoing age restriction enforcement, Brazil via consumer rights lawsuits and regulatory suspensions, and Kenya regarding content moderation and algorithmic impact on violence.