MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
A federal judge heard opening arguments today in the lawsuit brought by four state attorneys general against Meta. This is the latest in a string of cases seeking to hold social media companies accountable for alleged harm to young people who use their products. Rachel Myrow, senior editor of KQED's Silicon Valley news desk, joins us from outside the federal courthouse in Oakland. Hey, Rachel.
RACHEL MYROW, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: OK, so set us up with the specifics. What was the argument from the lawyer for the states?
MYROW: Megan O'Neill, deputy AG for California - which is suing along with Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey - said, quote, "this case is about whether Meta misled the public about risks on its platforms." Risks, she argued, that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram intentionally to addict children even though the company knew it was exposing them to substantial risk of psychologically damaging experiences - all this while executives testified publicly and company PR communicated repeatedly that Meta was doing none of this. She also promised the jury that most of the state's case will be built on internal private documents from Meta, as well as Meta employees. The headliner is most definitely going to be CEO Mark Zuckerberg. There are also expert witnesses, including whistleblowers, at least one of whom has testified before Congress.
KELLY: And then how about the other side? What was the counterargument from Meta's lawyer?
MYROW: Meta attorney Paul Schmidt argued the states found extreme cases, proverbial needles in the haystack of billions of user experiences across the globe and over the years. He acknowledged there's no dispute that some teens struggle to manage their time on social media and no dispute that kids can lie about their ages to get around Meta's 13-and-over age policy and no dispute that some people post negative things. But that's something Meta takes seriously and tries to act on, he said. In recent years, the platforms have rolled out things like parental controls and Instagram teen accounts to respond to public concerns.
KELLY: I mean, this case, Rachel, is one of many, many, many cases pending against Meta. Just give us the broader context here.
MYROW: Well, Mary Louise, there are thousands of personal injury and consumer protection lawsuits against social media companies filed by states, school districts, individuals. All these cases claim in some form that the platforms are addictive to children and designed to be that way. If this sounds like the legal playbook used against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, you are hearing right. Now, social media platform developers have long argued successfully that federal law protects them from claims made on free speech grounds, but plaintiffs are drawing blood at the state level with the new consumer product cases like those brought against tobacco companies. Judges in both New Mexico and Los Angeles have already ordered big damages. Appeals are pending.
KELLY: OK, so back to the case that kicked off today in court - a pointer or two for what we should watch for next?
MYROW: This case is going to be another barn burner of a tech trial in front of the same judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, who oversaw Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI earlier this year. She clearly has an appetite for complex Silicon Valley disputes. Hard to say this early in the case what kind of financial damages Meta is looking at, but it could be in the billions or even more. Regardless, the states are also asking that Meta be ordered to change up how it designs its products so that they're less addictive.
KELLY: Thank you, Rachel.
MYROW: Thank you.
KELLY: That's KQED's Rachel Myrow. And this note, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a charity founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, is a financial supporter of NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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