A coalition of states wants to force Meta to kill infinite scroll and pay up to $1.4 trillion for hooking kids. Mark Zuckerberg is about to take the stand in what might be the biggest tech trial of the decade.
Building an app that billions of people use is one thing. Convincing a jury that you did not deliberately design it to hook teenagers is another. This week, the people who run Instagram and Facebook have to sit in a California courtroom and defend the very code that made them rich.
Twenty-nine states are dragging Meta into an Oakland federal court. They claim the company built its platforms to be addictive to children and quietly harvested their personal data.
The financial threat is hard to even picture. Meta told investors the penalties could hit $1.4 trillion. That is roughly the entire market value of the company. The states are currently floating a number closer to $200 billion.
But the money is only half the fight. The attorneys general want a federal judge to physically change how the apps work. They are asking for a nationwide order to kill infinite scroll, force strict age gates, and strip away the features that keep kids staring at their screens.
Meta is pushing back hard, calling the whole thing a money grab.
“The AGs offer no proof anyone in their states was misled,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. The company argues the states are just trying to punish normal features, like letting a teenager have a second Instagram account, and are chasing an “outlandish payout.”
The states have a heavy weapon, though. A massive pile of internal documents. The lawsuit is built on the foundation laid by Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who leaked internal research in 2021. Those papers allegedly show Meta knew the apps were harming kids but chose to protect its profits instead.
SEE ALSO: Meta faces a trial that could change Instagram and Facebook for young users
Now, former employees are ready to talk. Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri are expected to take the witness stand and answer for it.
An eight-person jury will hear the case, but a judge will make the final call. If the court forces Meta to rip out its core design, the apps we scroll through every night will look completely different. If Meta wins, the massive wave of lawsuits from angry parents and schools might finally stop.
The opening statements start Tuesday. The real fight for the future of the internet is just getting started.
