Meta is back in court, and this time the stakes reach into the design of Facebook and Instagram themselves. A trial stemming from a major lawsuit brought by US states is now underway, with the states seeking to force an overhaul of how the platforms treat young users.
According to the BBC, the court heard allegations that Meta hooked children on Facebook and Instagram. Meta, for its part, argued that social media addiction does not exist. A second BBC report notes that the states are pushing for big changes to both apps rather than simply penalising past conduct.
The Guardian, in a piece that reached the front page of Hacker News, summarised the states' case from the first week as a four-part strategy: hook, hold, harvest and hide.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta framed the goal after opening arguments, telling CNBC the case is about "restitution and distortion," not damages — in other words, not an attempt to extract a massive payout.
The potential consequences are what make this unusual. CNBC reports that a Meta loss could reshape familiar features, raising the prospect of an end to doom scrolling or Instagram Stories as users know them. One analyst told CNBC that "these trials are often compared to the Big Tobacco lawsuits of the 90s, and the outcome will likely be analogous as well."
Wired describes the proceedings as a landmark case that could force significant changes to core features of both platforms — the kind of remedy that would touch the mechanics of the feed, not just a privacy policy page.
It matters because a courtroom, rather than a product team or a regulator, may end up deciding how the world's most-used social apps are allowed to hold your attention.